My year in an Indian fort

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MY YEAR

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IX TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.

[

LONDON: V

HUEST A>*B BLACKETT. ITBLISHE7>

13 GREAT ilARLBOROUGH STREET.
1877

PREFACE.

IN the following pages I have nothing to tell
of Eastern magnificence. In the works of
God, rather than in those of man, lies the in-
terest to be found in the somewhat primitive
part of the Western Deccan where, for the time
being, my lot was cast. Tempered by the sea
breeze, its climate is the most equable and de-
lightful in all India. Its high table-lands are
fertile and well timbered, its protecting ghats
afford mountain scenery of the wildest and
most beautiful description, and it is very rich
in its fauna and flora. The charms of nature
are scattered around with a beneficent hand,
and its strange and ancient people were to me
a fertile source of interest.

Such were the attractions which combined
with the fulness of my family life to make
up the happiness that I experienced dining
44 My Year in an Indian Fort."

Belgairm Fort, July, 1876.

CONTENTS

OF

THE FIRST VOLUME,

CHAPTER I.

Voyage to Bombay — The Hindoo — Unpromising Com-
mencement of the Voyage — Three days in Torbay —
Sunday on Board — Across the Bay of Biscay — The
Sierra of Cintra — Gibraltar Passed — The Mediter-
ranean — Algiers — Carthage — Tunis — Pantalaria —
Port Said— Perilous Position of the Arabia — A Day
on Shore — Land of the Pharaohs — The Suez Canal —
Pilgrims — Ismalia 1

CHAPTER II.

Chateau Eugenie— Suez— The Wells of Moses— The Red
Sea — Remarkable Coral Reefs— Island of Perim —
Novel Postman — Aden — Arabian Dhowd — Signal of
Distress — Sea-beggars — Socotra — Flying Fish — Arri-
val at Bombay — The Esplanade Hotel — Pamphlets—
First Aspect of Bombay — Equipages — Parsee Women
—Polo— The Native Town .... 26

Vlii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER m.

Hindoo Women — Arabian Beauties — Rites of Betrothal —
Funeral Procession — English Chambermaids in India
— Flower -market — Jain Establishments for Superan-
nuated Animals — Drive to Malabar Point — A Brah-
man Village — The Esplanade — Island and Temples of
Elephanta — Description of one of the Temples — The
Three-faced God — Sculptured Figures — Rock Temples
— Curious Ants' Nest — Western Ghats . . 49

CHAPTER IV.

Journey to Belgaum — Railway Travelling — Dyeing
in India — Wild Scenery — Incline of the Bhor
Ghat — Overpowering Heat — Sanitarium for Soldiers —
The Mahratta Mountains — Peculiar Features of the
Indian Landscape — View of the Concan — Indian
Legend — Karli — Death of Captain Stewart — Camp
of Exercise — Founder of the Mahratta Kingdom —
Itinerant Merchants — Evening in the Public Gardens
— A Drive by Night — Poonah — Murder of Narazan
Rao 72

CHAPTER V.

Travelling Arrangements in India — The Southern Cross —
The Travellers' Bungalow — Fakirs — Noble Banyan-
Tree — Fishing in India — The Singadari — Orthography
of Indian Proper Names — Climate of Western India —
Ascent of the Kamski Ghat — The Magellanic Clouds
— Crossing the Koo-i-nor — Arrival at Sattara — Ruins
of the Fort — Labyrinths and Dungeons — Palace of the
Rajah 99

CONTENTS. IX

CHAPTER VI.

Re-engagement of an Old Servant — The Old Palace —
Relics of Sevaji — Tale of Indian Treachery — The
Combat with Claws — Junction of the Krishna
and the Zena — The Parsee Tower of Silence —
Religious Ideas and Symbols of the Hindoos — Festival
in Honour of Shiva — Hindoo Sects — Turbans — The
Savi — Condition of Hindoo Women — Ornaments —
Returning from the Fair — Sattara Monkeys — A Jaina
Temple— The Burning Ghat ... 122

CHAPTER VH.

The Seven-Starred Fort — A Moment of Peril — Extensive
Cemetery — Hindoo Superstition — Fine Idgar — Arrival
at Kolhopur — The Rajah — Government School — Death
of a Young Rajah at Florence — The Gates of Kolhopur
— The Rajah's Palace — An Amusing Carriage-load —
An Irate Colonel — Accident to our Carriage — Nipani —
Cruelty of the Desay — Soutguttee — Arrival at our
Indian Home 119

CHAPTER VHL

Belgaum — Records and Traditions of the Fort — Stormed
by Mohammed Shah — Mahmoud Gavan — Ismael Khan
Shah — Khoossan Toork— Sevaji — Changes of Name and
Fortune — Besieged by a Force under General Monro
— Garrison at the Time of the Mutiny — Execution of
the Chief of Nargund— Description of the Fort — The
English Church — The Station Library — Favourite
Spots — Architecture of the Jaina Temples . 177

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

Sect of the Jains — Their Opinions — Jaina Saints — Archi-
tecture of the Jain Temples — Sena Rajah — Legends —
Decoration of the Hall — Ornaments in Sculpture —
Shrines — Spacious Dome— Dedication Plate — The
Sacred Cell— The Second Temple— English Indiffer-
ence to the Antiquities of the Country — The Musjid
Safa — Concealed Treasure — Curious Relic — Memorials
of the Past 200

CHAPTER X.

Trees in the Fort — Consecration of Trees — The Banyan-
Tree — A Patriarch of the Forest — Peepul-Trees —
The India-Rubber Tree — Ficus Glomerata — Strange
Peculiarity of Plants — Lofty Cotton-Tree — The Ja-
mun— The Champai— The Cocoa-Nut Palm— The
Soap-Nut Tree — Sandal- Wood Tree — Acacia Arabica,
or Babool of India — The Golden Mhune— Eucalypti

220

CHAPTER XL

Our Bungalow — Building in India — Anglo-Indian Words
—Beautiful Floral Display— Tameness of Bird and
Beast — Buffaloes — Our Establishment of Servants —
Butler and Cook— The Puttah Wallee— The Malee,
or Head- Gardener— Frequent Demands for Holidays
—Want of Privacy— Pretended Christians— Expenses
of the Table — Grafting of Mangoes — Provisions, Fruit,
and Wine 235

CHAPTER XII.

Difficulties of Driving— Red Dust— Venerable Groves-
Temples and Dharani Salas— The Dheer's Well— The

CONTEXTS. XI

Edgar — Churches and Chapels — Refuges for Lepers —
The Jack-tree — Jungle Creepers — Drives about the
Camp — Uses of the Acacia-tree— The Commissariat
Lines — Intelligent Elephants — Cultivation of Cotton
— Camping Parties — Fashionable Resort — Scene at
the Band Stand — Dogs Military and Civilian — Jam-
bottee 266

CHAPTER XIII.

Old Mosque— The Nag, or Cobra Tank— Sharpur— Popu-
lation— Jewellers — Curiosities — Sacred Stones — An-
cient Pedigrees — Thugs — Garden Parties — Travelling
Merchants — Men from the Cannara Jungles — Plants
and Tame Animals brought for sale — Conjurers and
Snake-charmers — Indian Jugglers puzzled — A Charm
against Violence — Mahomedan Burying-places —
Amusements of the Soldiers — Native Troops — My
First Christmas in India . . . . 290

MY YEAE IN AN INDIAN FOET.

CHAPTER I.

Voyage to Bombay — The Hindoo — Unpromising Com-
mencement of the Voyage — Three days in Torbay —
Sunday on Board — Across the Bay of Biscay — The
Sierra of Cintra — Gibraltar Passed — The Mediter-
ranean — Algiers — Carthage — Tunis — Pantalaria —
Port Said — Perilous Position of the Arabia — A Day
on Shore — Land of the Pharaohs — The Suez Canal —
Pilgrims — Ismiilia.

A START for a far-distant country must, even
under the most favourable circumstances,
be accompanied by some emotions of sadness.
There was certainly nothing exhilarating in our
departure for India. Up at daybreak on a foggy
January morning, a hurried breakfast, a crush
into the family omnibus, a tedious delay in a
narrow street where gas-pipes were being laid
down, a tramp through long lanes lined by bales
and boxes, a climb up a greasy ladder, and we
stood upon the dirt-begrimed deck of the Hindoo f
VOL. I. B

2 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

a steamer of four hundred horse-power, bound
for Bombay.

Our first impulse was to count heads, and
these, consisting, in addition to M. and myself,
of three children, three nurses, two Irish setters,
a terrier, and two goats, were happily found all
right. Our next step was to descend and see
what our cabins were like, and having satisfied
our curiosity on this point, we felt ourselves at
leisure to mount to the upper deck, and survey
the scene presented by the various groups as-
sembled below, our companions to be for the
next five weeks.

All had a subdued manner, and some looked
just slightly cross, as I have no doubt we also
did ; but the appearance of all improved under
more favourable circumstances, and we trusted
that our visages also lighted up. The scene
upon the lower deck, and alongside on the
crowded wharf, was dismal; poverty and squalor,
dirt and disorder, reigned supreme. Everything
seemed to have a leaden hue, and a stifling
smoke-laden atmosphere enveloped all. My
memory dwells but on one bright speck, the
cheerful scarlet of a petticoat worn by a woman
who was waving a tearful adieu to her friends.

The ship was by no means ready for sailing.
She had only been in dock thirteen days, and

VOYAGE TO BOMBAY. 3

the bedding was damp. In my cabin I found a
broken cart and ninepins, belonging doubtless
to its former juvenile occupant. To make mat-
ters still more deplorable, the weather, after we
had started, was almost as bad as it could be.
We made scarcely any way. The captain
passed two very anxious nights on deck, and
the narrow vessel — only thirty-eight feet wide
by four hundred long, built to pass through the
Suez Canal — rolled terribly. The ornamental
part of the upper deck was carried away by the
violence of the sea, and the berths being all
more or less wet, we were very miserable, added
to which I had a private grievance of my own.
Dogs not being allowed in the saloon, my poor
Bustle was ruthlessly ordered off to Mr. Needles,
the butcher, under whose care he was placed.
How I used to struggle over the wave- washed
deck to feed him, and impart a little comfort to
my desolate favourite, no one but a lover of
dogs can imagine. The poor creature I really
believe would have died, had not the captain
allowed him to come below, in order to enjoy
the sport of hunting the rats which infested our
cabins, impudently eating our biscuits, and nib-
bling holes in our clothes.

It was not long before Mr. Bustle became quite
a favourite with the good-natured passengers,

B 2

4 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

who called him Monsieur Tourneur, and other
pet names. We lay three days in Torbay, into
which a number of other ships ran for shelter,
among them a fine P. and 0. steamer, also
bound for Bombay. Having sailed a day in
advance of the Hindoo, she had been roughly
handled by the waves, and was obliged to put
back. With the exception of the captain, no
one went on shore, and he paid two shillings
for a boat to take him there and back. Owing
to the stormy condition of the sea, he had to
choose the right moment to jump in, and after-
wards told us that he reckoned the distance be-
tween the top of the wave and the trough of the
sea to be at least twelve feet. The sight of the
elements at war, the flashes of lightning and
the peals of thunder, were most exciting. When
the white squalls came on, a small part of the sea
would be suddenly covered with foam, a torrent
of rain would pour down upon the spot, and, as
it spread, gradually obscure land, sea, and sky,
leaving us in all but complete darkness.

Torbay, I understand, is very dangerous when
the wind blows from the west. Captain Cousins
(our captain) told us that once when, with forty-
seven other ships, he had to run in for safety,
the wind suddenly veered round in the night,
and all the vessels, with the exception of two,

SUNDAY ON BOARD. 5

were either stranded or more or less injured.

In spite of the gales, Sunday brought with
it a young clergyman from Torquay to conduct
divine service, and all assembled in the long
saloon to take part in the religious duty. After-
wards one Sunday on board was precisely like
another. The ladies assembled in fresh toilettes.
The gentlemen did their little best to imitate
them, with crisp white cuffs and collars, and
dandy neck-ties ; but it was really a pretty
sight to see the Hindoo sailors muster in their
stainless cotton dresses, bound round the waist
by crimson silk sashes.

At ten o'clock precisely two very handsome
copper-coloured Bengalese dived into a cup-
board, brought forth a number of Bibles and
prayer-books, and began to rig up the reading-
desk. First they produced two very large
chess-boards, then a couple of bed-pillows were
fetched from below, after which the union-jack
was carefully spread over the erection, which
was further secured by a long thick rope coiled
around it. The service commenced with the
regulation hymn, including the verse, " I have
seen the works of the Lord, and His wonders in
the deep," and everyone knows the beautiful
air to which those words are set, ending with
the refrain,

6 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

" Oh ! hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea."

Always touching, this hymn was doubly so
when one glanced up whilst singing it, and
looked around upon the solitary expanse of
ocean. No land, no ships in sight, no human
aid to help us in distress. In such circumstances
the whole service was felt to be doubly impres-
sive.

We rolled through the Bay of Biscay without
seeing anything of the coast we knew so well,
and kept clear of Cape St. Vincent, from whence
the ship usually telegraphs to her owners. As
we pitched and staggered on in the dark night,
it was awful to think of the depth of the sea
beneath. When at seventy miles distance from
Cape St. Vincent soundings were taken by
H.M.S. Challenger, a depth of two thousand
live hundred fathoms was found — nearly three
miles.

The first land we sighted was the great
headland at the mouth of the Tagus, the
Sierra of Cintra, as the Portuguese call it.
Here we felt a sensible change in the tempera-
ture, and having suffered much from cold in the
early portion of our voyage, the increased
warmth was now the more delightful. On the
tenth day after leaving England we skirted

GIBRALTAR. 7

the coast of Morocco, and were near enough
to perceive the serried tails of the Great
Atlas range. None of its higher peaks,
which are eternally covered with snow, were
visible. The great mountain range extends in
an oblique direction, far inland, and as the
morning sun lit up the bold swelling hills, they
looked very imposing. Towards evening we
had on our right the perpendicular white cliff
of Trafalgar Bay ; and in the distance was
the rock of Ceuta, in the centre of a bay
which we appeared to be entering. " The
Kock " was hidden from our view by a long
range of nearer hill.

As the ship had no time to call at Gibraltar,
we passed it late at night, when unfortunately
there was no moon. We saw the lighthouse at
the point, but that was all. " Gib " is by no
means given to illuminations, although its love
of obscurity is not so great as it was supposed
to be by a Russian gentleman with whom we
had once voyaged from Malaga to Gibraltar. He
was one of those happy individuals who place
implicit faith in their guide-book, and the one
he possessed informed him that the garrison
being in constant fear of a surprise, all the
houses were painted black, and that every light
was extinguished at nine o'clock. Algeciras,

8 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

that paradise of nurserymen, where half the
hyacinths and tulip-bulbs which supply Europe
are grown, having nothing to defend but her
gardens, lay curved along the shore a brilliant
line of light.

It was pleasant to exchange the grey waters
of the Atlantic for the Mediterranean. It would
have been still more agreeable had its blue
waves treated us less rudely. Many a familiar
face at the breakfast-table disappeared, but
M. and I succeeded, after a struggle, in mount-
ing to the upper deck, being anxious to catch
sight of our old friends, the mountains of
Granada, the snowy peaks of the Sierra Ne-
vada. How we longed for wings to fly over
them, to find rest in the green Veda at their
feet.

We kept close to the monotonous rock-bound
coast of Oran, and when the darkness of another
night had fallen, we surged past the light-
house, and caught sight of the twinkling lamps
of Algiers, and thought of the days when we
had searched its strand for shells, and pieces of
marble and tesselated pavement on the shore of
Cape Matifou.

The next day we passed the high mountains
of Kabylia, and caught sight of craggy Fort
Napoleon, which looks down upon a hundred

ISLAND OF PANT AL ARIA. 9

villages, the inhabitants of which still make the
rude herb-stained pottery of their Phoenician
ancestors, and work in silver varied forms of
the cross, sole relic of the Christianity which
they professed under the Romans.*

The shore became flat before the Tunisian
frontier was reached. From the sea there is
little to see that reminds us of the bygone
glories of Carthage, though the ruins of the re-
constructed city, in indestructible masses, still
fringe the shore, her columns still strow the
strand, and her noble aqueduct, arch after arch,
an almost unbroken line, still stretches for fifty
miles along the plain. Through a good glass
we could just perceive the church which the
French have built upon the spot where their
sainted Louis expired. The hills above Tunis,
famous in story, were dimly visible, and then
we lost sight of land, until the Island of Pan-
talaria, formerly belonging to the King of Sicily,
and used as a penal settlement, came into view.

An old brick fort stood upon the beach. The
town is large, and the flat-roofed houses, paint-

* Among some pottery which I once bought in Kabylia,
was a small jug of peculiar shape. It was coloured with
dingy red and yellow, and adorned with slanting lines of
black, which crossed one another. It precisely resembled
the jug found by Captain Warren, under the temple at
Jerusalem, an engraving of which may be seen in his work.

10 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

ed white, rose in gradation, like steps, against
the side of the mountain, an extinct volcano.
In spite of its isolated position the place had a
cheerful air, and the public garden, placed in
the old crater, appeared to be a charming spot.
What a splendid sea view it must have com-
manded ! Pantalaria owes its present pros-
perity to its vineyards. It exports large quan-
tities of white and red marsala. The island
now belongs to the King of Italy. Though
there was now but an infant moon, the nights
were made beautiful by the luminous appear-
ance of the waves. Bright sparks illuminated
the prow of the vessel, flickered up the ropes, and
lit up its track with millions of tiny lanterns ;
and balls of light came dancing along with the
foam, borne past the sides of the ship by the
seething waters.*

Ships generally call at Malta, but we did not
approach it, although the second-class passen-
gers were short of water, and had to drink that
which had been condensed, and even it was
dealt out sparingly, as every gallon so prepared
costs eightpence. With the captain it was a

* It is the Medusa tribe who have the faculty of shedding
light in the highest degree, and it is thought probable that
fish which go beyond the depth to which the light of the
sun penetrates the sea, are endowed with this faculty.

PORT SAID. 1 1

consideration both of time and money, the port
dues at Malta being exceedingly heavy. x\ll
were on the alert when Port Said was sighted.
We caught sight first of the tall white light-
house, which stands at the extremity of a long-
spit of sand ; then of the breakwater, made of
huge blocks of concrete, piled up, and black
with shaggy sea-weed ; and then of the low
shore, with the wooden railway-station, the
post-office, long grey lines of sheds, and stretch-
ing out at the back, the town, with straight
streets crossing one another with odious regu-
larity. One row of huts was pointed out as
having been built by English soldiers, the place
having served as a depot for some of our troops
during the Crimea war. Such, with the burn-
ing sky above and the dazzling sand around,
was Port Said. Before the process of coaling
commenced, we had to cover up all our effects.
The fine black dust is wonderfully penetrating,
and it was weeks before the three friends,
Grouse, and Drake, and Bustle, were entirely
rid of the shining particles. The passengers
made up little parties for the shore, and M.
was appealed to for hints as to where to go
and what to see. M. was considered a great
authority, quite equal to the task of writing a
guide-book for Port Said.

12 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

Only seven weeks previously, the Arabia, a
Ruber tino steamer, on which M. was a passen-
ger, had come to grief in the Mediterranean, two
days from land. She broke her screw one night,
when the gales were frightful, and was in great
danger. A brig was faintly seen bearing right
down upon her. The Italian steward explained
the situation to M., the only one who understood
and spoke that language, and requested him to
rouse his companions ; and when the passen-
gers rushed on deck, a collision between the
vessels appeared to be inevitable. The brig
was on the top of the waves, with her bowsprit
over the deck of the Arabia, which lay in the
trough of the sea, when a mighty billow broke
in and parted them. The unknown vessel her-
self, probably disabled, drifted away, carrying
with her part of the rigging of the Arabia. The
steamer sent up rockets as signals for assistance,
and at last got towed back into Port Said.
For ten days did poor M., who was in a fever
of anxiety to get home, pace the sands, and
torment the agents, in order to know when the
ship would be able to sail. At last, tired out,
she and eight of her companions in misfortune
agreed to take the first steamer which would
forward them. It proved to be the Mesopo-
tamia, a little vessel of eight hundred tons,

PORT SAiD. 13

bound from the Persian Gulf to Marseilles. In
spite of heavy gales, she landed them safely in
France. Curiously enough, Captain Cousins
knew the Mesopotamia and her captain ; he de-
clared that it was a fine boat ; he and its com-
mander were friends, and had served together
for some years on board the unfortunate Cos-
patrick.

Port Said has a considerable but ever-chang-
ing reputation. It is an evil place, full of billiard-
rooms, gaming-houses, and low drinking booths,
where a man must look to his safety after dark.
All the French officials who are able to do so
live at Ismalia. It so happened that I and an-
other lady were for the first hour alone together
after landing, and found it so unpleasant that
we were on the point of returning to our boat,
when by good luck we fell in with some of our
friends. In the middle of the town there is a
melancholy pleasure-ground, with scorched grass,
and shrivelled shrubs covered with dust. Being
a French settlement, the most prominent object
is, of course, the Hotel Restaurant and Cafe de
Paris, a great, rambling, buff-washed building.
From this centre radiate several streets, with
wooden houses and colonnades, underneath
which are the shops. The most prudent of us
ran wild amongst their contents, eating very

14 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

dear cakes, which we did not want, and buying
expensive boxes of pink and white hearts' de-
light, which we knew would be like so much
bird-lime in our mouths.

The Chinese and Japan wares were really
good, and not dear. We treated ourselves to
several small articles, along with a pair of
japanned vases, which we designed for lamps,
and made a mental note to the effect that we
should be well furnished with such articles if we
ever visited the place again.

The streets were thronged with disreputable-
looking people ; the Europeans were chiefly
French, and surely there is ou earth no vaga-
bond like a French vagabond. He is the sort
of individual who would rob you with a debon-
naire air, and take off his hat whilst stealing
your purse. There was to be a masked ball in
the town that evening, and the exteriors of
many shops were decorated with masks and
dominos, tall clannish hats, and highly-glazed
calico costumes of every shape and colour. In
the middle of one street stalked an all but un-
draped madman, who was endeavouring to hold
three umbrellas over his head — an object of
derision to the low Europeans, but of venera-
tion to the natives. As is usually the case in
such places, we were unmercifully tormented

PORT SA'iD. 15

by beggars and little boys, and had the inevit-
able quarrel with our boatmen before returning
on board.

When our company were again assembled,
we compared notes as to what we had seen and
done ; some, not having had enough of the sea,
had taken a steam-launch, and had examined
the breakwater and the light-house. Our
friends, the M. A s, had visited the ceme-
tery, in order to see the grave of a young
friend, an officer, who had died of fever in this
wretched hole. They were quite dejected with
the dirt and neglect which they had found.
" My dear," said the Colonel to his wife, " if I
die at Port Said, bury me in the sea. That, at
least, will be a clean grave." Dick's goat had
died, I fear, of cold and exposure (Dick was the
adored baby), and from Port Said M. took the
opportunity of telegraphing to Suez for another.
Coaling went on all night, but at eleven in the
morning we steamed off, in spite of the absence of
three passengers, whom the warning guns had
failed to bring back from too protracted wander-
ings on the shore. We got quite excited in
thinking how they would contrive to catch the
vessel, for we soon perceived that a boat was
slowly toiling after us, making so little way
that its occupants were obliged to change it for

16 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

another, in which, with some difficulty, they
succeeded in reaching the Hindoo, which did not
stop one moment to take them up. It was
somewhat awkward for the ladies, one of whom
was stout ; but at last they reached the deck,
with tempers slightly ruffled ; and they were
certainly received in a very unsympathising
manner. The captain explained that it was
impossible for him to wait a moment after the
ship was ready to start, especially as another
vessel, one of the Ducal line, was anxious to get
before him, and it was desirable to have the way
as clear as possible. He had once been detained
six days in the canal, in consequence of ships in
advance having stuck.

It was delightful to sit down in a shady
corner and watch the landscape, as the plains
over which the Israelites had wandered lay
extended before me. The land of the Pharaohs
was a dead flat, bounded only by the distant
horizon. To the left lay a stony desert, but
to the right spread the shallow waters of Lake
Menzaleh, the abiding place of innumerable
wild-fowl. Ducks, with feathers that shone like
silver, floated about in thousands ; knots of peli-
cans, fishing for their noonday meal ; red-billed
cranes, standing on one leg, profoundly occupied
in regarding their reflection in the water. The

THE SUEZ CANAL. 17

air was also tenanted. The brilliant scarlet
plumage of the flamingos flashed in the sun-
shine as they wheeled about in the cloudless
sky ; and stiff-legged storks skimmed along in
wedge-shaped battalions, led by some crafty
traveller, who had flapped his wings over many
a land. Who knows ? — he might have supped
upon the banks of Father Nile, dozed the night
away upon the great pyramid, and the morrow's
noon might see him hovering over the highlands
of Abyssinia. The mirage is often seen to great
advantage from this part of the canal, but on
the present occasion the weather was unfavour-
able to any striking display of the phenomenon.
Occasionally we imagined that there was a tree
or an island, where their existence was impos-
sible; and there was ' sometimes a deceptive
mingling of sand, hill, and cloud — but that was
all.

There were fourteen ships before us, and two
or three were in our rear. The regulation
speed is four and a half miles an hour. Under
certain circumstances the mail boats are allowed
to pass ahead. The etiquette of the canal is
strictly enforced, and in narrow or winding
places — for the line taken is far from straight —
there are sidings into which ships can enter and
allow others to go ahead ; and at the frequent
, , VOL. I. C

18 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

stations, which are also telegraph-offices, signals
are run up for the instruction of the pilot. The
signals for stopping were very simple ; two or
three cocoa-nuts strung on a rope, or two
gourds and a small flag.

These stations, which are long and low, are
built of wood, and their rustic porches were
covered with creepers. It was pleasant to see
such pretty home-like places, each with its
patch of garden and grassy banks, little green
oases in the sandy desert.

Occasionally we saw a colourless village, built
of mudand straw; and little naked children would
run down to peep at us, and scamper off again.
Now and then a tall, dark man, draped in an
ample burnous of striped black and white flannel,
with a formidable bludgeon in his hand, would
pass along on the raised footpath, accompanied,
possibly, by wife or daughter, huddled up on
the back of a camel — simple scenes, which were
pleasant to behold. The first large steamer
which we met was packed with pilgrims bound
from Jeddo to Alexandria. The crowd on her
decks was great, and there were groups and
figures so remarkable that they fixed them-
selves in our memory.

Majestic old men, with flowing beards of
purest white, with immense turbans, and robes,
occasionally of the sacred green, but stained

THE SOMALIS. 19

with travel, leant upon their tall staffs, and
gravely regarded us. Their loins were girded
by leathern belts, to which were appended
gourds of fantastic form for holding water.
There were others — the wildest-looking beings
that it was possible to conceive — who leant over
the side of the ship and grinned at us. They
were Somalis, a people whose habit it is to
keep their heads cool by plastering them over
with chenam, a mixture of earth and lime, which
bleaches the hair, and makes it exceedingly
coarse. Their shaks, of tawny hue, entirely
concealed their foreheads, and formed a pent-
house over their fierce eyes.* Some women
were huddled up in a corner. Untempting
bundles of dirty cotton, pots and pans, and
sacks of grain, were heaped up on the deck, where
there scarcely appeared to be sufficient room to
stand ; and loops of sausages, and other edibles,
were festooned about. Conspicuous among the
crowd were the tall Egyptian guards, stern,

* Somali land is a triangular country, containing 330,000
square miles. It is bordered on the north by the Gulf of
Aden, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the south-
west by the river Jub, which rises in southern Abyssinia.
The present Somali race were originally Arabs, who landed
on the African shore in the fifteenth century, driving back
the original inhabitants of the country, who had, in early
times, become Christians. The Sornalis are Moslems.

c2

20 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

dark men, with broad shoulder-belts and girdles
bristling with weapons, placed there to keep the
peace, and to prevent anyone from landing in
the Khedive's dominions, and by chance import-
ing cholera or plague.

Contagious diseases are of frequent occur-
rence on board pilgrim ships, and they have
consequently to undergo a quarantine of forty
days wherever they stop. It is most unpleasant
to sail in a boat which has ever been used for
the conveyance of pilgrims. (Having experi-
enced the disagreeable consequences, I speak
feelingly.) They abound with obnoxious in-
sects, which swarm out of the woodwork in
legions, and no amount of care can subdue
them.

The pilgrim ship was soon out of sight, and
shortly after we passed a fine P. and O. steamer
— a great contrast to the one with which we
had just parted company. She ran up her flag
and the Hindoo returned the compliment. With
the exception of the men and officers engaged
in working the ship, there was not a soul on
her decks. A face appeared for a moment at a
cabin window, a white hand was waved from a
port-hole, and she went swiftly on her way.
There was something strangely impressive,
almost ghostly, in these silent meetings, where

RUINS OF MIGDOL. 21

people who had never met before, and would
probably never meet again, exchanged un-
asked-for photographs, possibly to be preserved
in the mind's eye as long as life lasted. Be-
fore reaching Kontora, some hillocks in the dis-
tance were pointed out as the ruins of Migdol
(not to be confounded with the Migdol upon the
Ked Sea). At the station of Kontora, which
lies at the head of the great lagoon lake, and is
five geographical miles from the sea, the influ-
ence of the Mediterranean tide ceases to be
perceptible. Steamers are not allowed to pro-
ceed after sunset. We dropped anchor as close
as possible to the sandy shore. The short twi-
light was soon gone, but the evening air was
delightfully balmy. I sat in a quiet mood,
watching the crescent moon, which I fancied to
be unusually large and bright. Lower and
lower she sank, until she rested like an ark
upon a low black ridge of distant sand a mo-
ment, and all that remained of her beauty were
two brilliant stars, which lingered for an instant
and disappeared.

We started as soon as it was light, but had
to stop in order to let a vessel pass, the canal
in this part being very narrow. Some of the
gentlemen took advantage of the delay, and
went on shore with their guns. They shot

22 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

some birds, but brought back no trophies, the
game being lost in the scrub which covered the
sandy plain. One of the number, however, had
collected a few plants, amongst which we found
a strange sort of cactus, and some stiff branches,
which bore a small white flower, with some
resemblance to heather. The learned declared
that the plant was a degenerate sort of palm.
Once more under way, and the scenery
changed considerably. Instead of the bound-
less plain, we now voyaged between banks of
sand, which were upwards of forty feet high ;
and the canal was so narrow that a good jumper
could have leapt across it. Shut in as we
were, the scenery possessed its own peculiar at-
traction. The clear water was brilliantly green,
and contrasted well with the rich light brown
sand, spotless, save where the tracks of footsteps
were discernible — the print of naked human
feet, the hoof of the camel, the buffalo, the ass,
and the jackal ; or the paws of the panther, the
cheeta, and the wild cat. Occasionally the long
tracks of a snake could be traced. To keep
vigil on the banks of this stream would not
have been agreeable, when all these creatures
came down in the moonlight to drink. Occa-
sionally the banks broke down, and disclosed
some flat-roofed, sun-scorched village, built of

ISMALIA. 23

mud and straw and unbaked bricks ; or we saw
a knot of hobbled camels, tended by some wild
dark man, leaning upon his staff, protected
from the sun by a scarf of coarse striped
woollen. Such a group may perchance have
occupied the self-same spot three thousand
years ago. Shortly before sunset we came
upon a number of men who were at work upon
the banks, which have to be attended to con-
stantly; Some of them, their duty being done,
had laid themselves down to sleep, while others
were grouped round fires, baking the peculiar
flat cake which is the staple food of the country.
The scene was exceedingly picturesque.

Ismalia is generally reached on the evening
of the second day, but it was not so upon this
occasion, our progress being slow. We stuck
no less than nine times. Immediately the ship
ran her prow into the bank, she swung across
the stream. We were never aground for more
than half an hour, having, in consequence of
our slow pace (less than three miles an hour)
struck the side of the canal with feeble im-
petus. On each occasion the uproar was deaf-
ening— such an issuing of orders through
speaking-trumpets, such shouts from the crew,
and such guttural responses from the shore,
where men appeared to spring out of the very

24 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

sand, anxious to lend their aid, and gain the
expected reward. Sometimes horses and don-
keys were pressed into the service. The men
were powerful, and their clothing scanty, but
a dark skin takes away much of the appearance
of nakedness, and the absence of costume passes
unnoticed, save when the perfect proportions of
some particular figure strike the eye, and you
remark, " What a fine form !" as if in a gallery
of bronzes.

We entered Lake Taman early in the morn-
ing, but were not allowed to land at Ismalia.
We had a good view of the town from
our anchorage. It is full of modern houses,
inhabited by French employes and their families.
The Viceroy has a Summer palace upon the
banks of the lake — a huge square stone building,
standing amidst sand-hills, without any appear-
ance of vegetation near it. At Ismalia, the
fresh-water canal, which was made in order to
supply the workmen on the line with whole-
some drinking water from the Nile, enters Lake
Taman. If I do not mistake, the bed formed
part of the ancient canal dug by Sesostris. We
were amused by the bumboats which came
alongside ; they were fitted out with such a
queer collection of articles — coarse shoes, black
bread, onions, and hearts' delight; but the most

MATERNAL MONKEYS. 25

attractive part of their cargo were the monkeys,
which they occasionally sell to homeward-bound
passengers. Some of the little ones were pretty
and playful — not so their seniors. One mother
was continually pinching her little ones, and
pulling faces at them ; whilst another, with
higher maternal instincts, spent her time in
gravely searching for the parasites with which
her offspring were infested.

26

CHAPTER II.

Chateau Eugenie— Suez— The Wells of Moses— The Red
Sea— Remarkable Coral Reefs— Island of Perim—
Novel Postman — Aden — Arabian Dhowd— Signal of
Distress— Sea-beggars— Socotra— Flying Fish— Arri-
val at Bombay— The Esplanade Hotel— Pamphlets—
First Aspect of Bombay — Equipages— Parsee Women
—Polo— The Native Town.

SHORTLY after leaving Ismalia, we crossed
the bitter lakes— bitter no longer, now
that they feel the influence of the tide from the
Red Sea, which at Suez rises six or eight feet.
The level of the Red Sea is, I believe, eighteen
inches higher than that of the Mediterranean;
When we again entered the canal, the naviga-
tion became difficult, and many dredging-ma-
chines were at work. The sharp elbows were
frequent, and it was by no means easy for so
long a vessel as ours to turn them, especially
as the sand appeared sometimes to bar all fur-
ther progress. The captain, and the pilot whom
we had taken on board at Ismalia, along with
four men, were at the wheel.

CHATEAU EUGENIE. 27

At a short distance from Suez stands the
Chateau Eugenie, which was built for the ac-
commodation of the Empress when she came to
open the canal. It is a large square wooden
house, with verandahs, and bears a considerable
resemblance to the grand stand on some race-
course. Seen from the water, Suez is a bright-
looking town, but " distance lends enchantment
to the view/' The tapering spire of the cathe-
dral, the large hotel built by the Khedive, and
a long row of substantial, green-shuttered
houses, give it an air of false importance and
respectability. Its dark houses are very unsafe*
It has lost the little trade it once enjoyed, and
travellers pass it by. Two or three ancient
wells near the town, surrounded by trees, are
called the wells of Moses, and at the back rise
fine crags, serrated and lightning scathed, a
spur of the Sinia range. Some authorities be-
lieve the present camel ford close to the har-
bour to be the track crossed by the Israelites,
and we willingly entertained the idea, as it-
gave additional interest to the scene.

Before we started, our new goat was put on
board, along with her little one. The expres-
sion and features of animals vary as much in
different countries as do those of the human
race. Our new acquaintance was a large, gaunt

28 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

creature, with a Roman nose, and fine long hair
of a bluish grey colour. I regarded her with awe
• — who knows ? her fore-mothers might have sup-
plied the babes in the time of the Pharaohs with
milk, or ministered to the wants of Joseph. Her
ladyship was by no means shy. To the astonish-
ment of the captain, the amusement of the com-
pany, and the vast indignation of the pompous
steward, she and her kid quietly walked into
the saloon during the sacred hour of dinner,
calmly surveyed the scene, and not finding it
to her mind, marched through and departed,
possibly on the search for her late master's hut.
As we slowly steamed round the long spit
of land which forms the harbour, we passed a
garden, in the centre of which stood a hand-
some stone pediment, supporting a bust in
bronze — a memorial erected by the canal com-
pany as a tribute to the memory of the unfor-
tunate Lieutenant Waghorn. The dues paid
to the company at first strike one to be enor-
mous. Those of the Hindoo amounted, I be-
lieve, to fifteen hundred pounds — little enough,
however, when the time and money saved by
this route are taken into consideration. The
distance to India by the Cape is eleven thousand
eight hundred miles — by the canal it is six
thousand five hundred.

INDIFFERENCE OF INDIAN PASSENGERS. 29

We had now, to my regret, done with the
canal. I believe that I was the only person on
board who had enjoyed the transit, or taken
an interest in the time-hononred plains through
which we had passed. We glided into the Gulf
a little before sunset. A glorious light burnished
the far-stretching range of hill upon the Egyp-
tian shore, but the dark blue mountains of Sinia
were in shade. The lateness of the hour was
much to be regretted, for in consequence of it
we lost a long stretch of beautiful scenery. I
was on deck with the dawning day, and the
captain was kind enough to show me his charts,
at the same time remarking how seldom pas-
sengers cared to relinquish an hour or two of
sleep in order to see this fine gulf. It is a curi-
ous fact that people who would rise with the
lark in order to gaze upon a sunrise in Switzer-
land, or a castle on the Rhine, will scarcely
mount to the deck to look at anything remarkable
on their passage to the East. The very name
of India appears to cast a spell of indifference
over those who have touched her shores, or are
likely to visit them. The secret may be that
the hearts of both the outward and the home-
ward-bound are full to overflowing with memo-
ries of their native land. The point of view
from whence a glimpse of the peak of Sinia is

30 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

sometimes obtained, we had passed in the night,
but were still skirting the range. It looked
very fine as the mild sun of early morning lit
up the great masses and points of rock.

We had entered the Red Sea, and were now
in the Straits of Jubal, which are lined with
coral reefs ; nor is the mid channel free from
dangerous islands and hidden spurs, and even
in calm weather the watch is doubled. When
stormy it is a most anxious time for the ship's
officers, and even the captain remains on deck
at night. We felt the periodical current which
flows into the Red Sea from October to May.
From May to October the flow of the current is
reversed.* Once more we saw the Egyptian
cliffs at sunset. They glowed like copper, richer
colouring it was impossible to imagine. As the
hours flew by we caught sight of mountains to
the right, and far inland, some of which attained
a height of seven thousand feet, and shortly
afterwards the Elba mountains in Arabia, which
are nine thousand feet high, loomed grandly in
the far distance. Oh ! for the wings of a dove,
to have explored them !

Losing sight of land, we encountered a gale,
and rolled terribly. The Hindoo was too long

* Somerville's Physical Geography, vol. i., p. 249.

A GALE. 31

to ride the waves, but "she cut her bright
way through." The skylights were batteued
down, all loose articles secured, the saloon
carpet was taken up, and stout wooden slides,
four feet high, were slipped into the doorways.
Prostrate forms strewed the sofas, and dismal
groans issued from below. Holding tight to
the woodwork, I could see what was going on
outside this little Pandemonium. Every four or
five minutes there was a bang, succeeded by a
momentary interval of silence and then a mighty
roar. The staggering ship was stunned, and
when she recovered herself, quivering and
groaning like a wounded creature, the water
came rushing along the deck, and foamed away
through the rope bulwarks, which caught all
the waifs left about by the heedless and the
sick — mops, and pails, and camp-stools, books,
bits of needlework, handkerchiefs, and stray
wraps.

All this time the sun shone brilliantly. The
fine spray, hurled high into the air, was tinged
with prismatic colours, flickering rainbows of
exceeding beauty, and dead white sea-crests,
curled and rushed impetuously down into gulfs
of deepest indigo. The sight was magnificent,
and I felt that I should soon learn to prefer rough
weather to the monotony of a calm at sea. When
the ocean is perfectly smooth I always experi-

32 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

ence a vague sense of disappointment, and the
vast plain of water fails to excite my enthusiasm.
After a few hours the wind fell, and we were
able to resume our seats upon the upper deck,
to mark the distant sail by day, and at night to
watch the increasing moon.

We reached a part of the Red Sea where two
very remarkable coral reefs stand out of the
water. They are so symmetrically formed that
they appear as if they had been shaped by the
hand of man. Their perpendicular sides rise
high out of the water, and their tops are per-
fectly level. Upon one of them there is a beacon,
and an apparatus for signalling. Ships pass as
far from these islands as possible, for they are
dangerous neighbours. Not many years ago a
fine French steamer was lost upon the smaller
of the two, and all hands perished. In rough
weather the sea dashes completely over them.
At the mouth of the Straits of Babelmandeb
(" The Gate of Tears !") lies the large volcanic
Island of Perim. At a little distance from it a
fine mass of red rock rises abruptly from the
water. It reminded me of the Bass rock, and
all the more as it was covered with silvery sea-
fowl. The French tried hard to get possession
of Perim, but the officer who commanded the ex-
pedition which was to plant the French drapeau

PERIM. 33

on its shore talked a little too much. The Eng-
lish, consequently, were too prompt for him, and
when the representative of " La Belle France "
arrived, he found the union-jack floating over
the island. Since then a small garrison has been
maintained upon it, as its position is important.
We saw the lonely row of barracks stretching
along behind the tall spectral lighthouse.

I afterwards met with a friend whose husband
had commanded this little force of fifty sepoys,
who, along with herself and children, a con-
densing engineer, a native apothecary, and a
certain number of Somali followers, composed
the sole population of the black rock, which has
neither soil nor fresh water. The sole vegeta-
tion consists of a few bastard cocoa-nut palms,
which bend away from the prevalent gales, and
a little scrubby plant, with a tiny yellow flower,
which creeps among the sandhills. The family
were put upon a small daily allowance of con-
densed water, which unfortunately will not bear
exposure to a hot atmosphere. All provisions
were of course brought from Aden, a distance of
ninety miles. Fish was good and plentiful, but
there was no one to catch it until my friends
imported a fisherman, who skilfully threw his
nets from the rocks, and supplied their table,
while shell-fish also were procured. The

VOL. I. D

34 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

position was rendered still less desirable by the
tediousness of the postal arrangements. They
only received their letters once a fortnight.
For some reason with which I am unac-
quainted, passing steamers were not allowed
to convey them. They were brought by land,
a six days' march for a man and his camels,
along the Arabian shore. When this novel post-
man arrived at his destination, his duty was to
light a great bonfire, in order to attract the
attention of the watchful Perimites, who, it may
be imagined, lost no time in sending their boat to
fetch the precious mail-bags. Letters were
opened and answered in hot haste, the little
boat set forth again upon its three mile voyage,
and the weary camel-driver re-commenced his
six days' march over the burning sands. Rare
shells strow the shore of this island, and occa-
sionally fine bunches of coral, white and red and
black, are washed up. A story is told, which
probably rests upon some slight foundation, of
an officer in charge of the Perim detachment,
who, at the expiration of his term, applied to
have it renewed; the request was granted
without difficulty; but a similar application,
made at the expiration of the second term,
so astonished the authorities, that they sent
to inquire how the gentleman was amusing

ADEN. 35

himself, and found that he had gone to Eng-
land.

Long before Aden (a name which signifies
Paradise) is reached, the distant Arabian
shore is again seen, broken into precipitous
gaps and headlands. For hours the great
rock is visible, a blue stain upon the horizon,
which gradually assumes form and colour. Im-
mediately before reaching Aden, some very
curious small volcanic hills and cliffs are passed.
The latter are very high, and the strata, which
is varied in colour, and strongly marked, almost
perpendicular. These heights are so fantasti-
cally shaped that it is difficult to believe that
they are not an assemblage of ruined fortifica-
tions. The base of the cliffs is honeycombed
with mysterious- looking caves — and there were
many charming little coves. What treasures
might not be strown upon their yellow sands !
Coral and amber (it is the land of amber), shells
and sea-weeds ! Alas ! they were not for us to
gather !

We slackened steam off Aden, but did not
stop, passing the mouth of the harbour very
slowly. The long lines of the cavalry barracks
were before us, but we saw nothing of most of
our forces, which are hidden away in the crater
of the loug extinct volcano. The European

D 2

36 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

town lies at the back of the rock. I am not
acquainted with the exact scale either of Gibral-
tar or of Aden, but the former is certainly far
the finest of the two rocks. Aden must be a
wretched place to live in for any length of time.
The want of fresh water is felt, in spite of the
numerous and powerful condensers, and the
wells are all more or less brackish. A certain
amount of each kind is doled out per head,
according to regulation. If I do not mistake,
a lady has five gallons of each per diem allowed
to her. Cattle also have their allowance. The
little Aden cow, unrivalled as a milker, will flour-
ish upon the most brackish quality. The want
of green stuff is also distressing, although
Government has large gardens thirty miles off,
upon the Arabian coast. The great pest of the
place are the myriads of insects, which allow of
no rest during the day, though at night they
fortunately cease to torment. I had always
fancied that there was delightful bathing at
Aden, but it is seldom resorted to, the shore
being inconveniently set with sharp rocks, in
addition to which it is dangerous on account of
the tides, which rise and fall with violence, and
sometimes the wash brings in unwilling and un-
welcome guests in the shape of sharks.

As long as we were under the shelter of the

THE RED SEA. 37

rock_, the sea was calm, and great numbers of
sea-jellies vibrated up and down in the clear
green water, looking like lovely pink flowers,
all of the same colour. Borne along by the
same current streamed glossy green and brown
and red sea-weeds. I spent half the after-
noon in looking down into this delightful sub-
marine garden. For some time, not one sea-
flower was to be seen, and then suddenly
whole fields of jellies came floating by ; but the
charming visions disappeared all too soon. The
crisp waves began to curl, and when we were
fairly away from the influence of the land, it
became very stormy. Before evening closed in
we were passed by an old-fashioned Arabian
vessel, called a dhowd, a strange-looking craft,
with a very high poop, and three tiers of port-
holes. She looked like some ancient galley that
had sailed out of a picture. The dhowds were
formerly almost all either slave or pirate ships.
We were not so fortunate as to observe in this
sea any of that ruddy appearance which, in so
many languages, has procured for it the appel-
lation of the Red Sea. A Belgian savant, Mon-
sieur Mossen, after collecting together nearly all
that had been written on the subject of red
water from the days of Moses down to our own,
gives a list of twenty-two species of animals, and

38 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

almost as many plants, capable of communicat-
ing this blood colour. Some seas are tinged
with yellow instead of red. This sea sawdust,
as the sailors call it, is of vegetable origin.

As we passed into the Arabian Sea, I strained
my eyes to catch a glimpse of the Island of
Socotra, which has a somewhat curious history.
In very remote times it had an independent
king, and afterwards became the seat of con-
siderable traffic. It was used as a kind of store-
house by the merchants who traded between
Egypt and the East, and its inhabitants were
christianized at a very early period. The low-
lands of Socotra are now overrun by a few
wandering Arab tribes, but its hills are popu-
lated by the families of Bunian traders, many
of whom are rich. It exports large quantities
of aloes. The island enjoys a busy port, and
it is probable that an active future awaits it.
It is now thought to be rich in coal fields, and
there is even a whisper that it may ere long be
occupied by British troops. Socotra is a hun-
dred miles long by forty broad, and is five
hundred and fifty miles from Aden.

One morning the monotony of our voyage
was broken by the appearance of a distant ship
making signals of distress. Our captain stopped
his vessel, and the strange barque put off a boat,,

SEA-BEGGARS. 39

which boarded us. It contained five men — an
Arab and four negroes. The Arab, who was
wrapped up in an ample bernous, was a tall,
copper-coloured man, with fine features; the
others were negroes of the true African type.
They had fine limbs and shapely heads, thickly
covered with dusky hair, curled as tight as that
of an Australian sheep. Their skins were per-
fectly black, and were smeared with oil. They
said that they belonged to a ship with a crew
of thirty men, bound from Zanzibar to Jeddo,
and that having experienced bad weather, they
had lost their reckoning. Their final request
was to be informed as to their position ; and
then they prayed for food and water, the latter
of which they declared that they had not
tasted for six days. Our captain was very
kind, and gave them two bags of rice and a
barrel of water, at the same time remarking that
they might have brought with them empty
sacks and a tub. They offered to pay in salt,
which they declared to be all they had ; and
this being declined, they rowed off, with small
demonstrations of gratitude. Were they really
in want, or were they sea-beggars V This no
one could decide ; and there were various
opinions upon the subject.

The days we spent upon the Arabian Sea

40 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

were pleasant, but far from eventful, the only
variety being the sight of a few whales playing
about — a species of animal, which, though small
in this sea, is exceedingly pugnacious. Shoals
of porpoises, with an occasional flight of paddy
birds, were all we had to divert us; but the
morning and evening skies were glorious. The
beauty of one particular night is deeply im-
pressed on my memory. The sun, a ball of
ardent red, was sinking into the sea, whilst in
the opposite direction the full moon, a huge
disk of golden pink, rose above the horizon.
The grand effect of the mingling lights upon
sea and sky was indescribable. I was drinking in
the beautiful scene with delight, when my at-
tention was attracted by a small brown object,
which emerged from the waves, and which I
soon saw was a flying-fish. This was the first
opportunity I had of seeing those beautiful
little creatures. Afterwards they were to be
seen in numbers. It would be pleasant to
believe that the flying-fish leave their native
element in sport, but, alas ! there is no doubt
that their object is to escape from some danger
which threatens them in the sea beneath. They
are able to support themselves in the air only
as long as their wings remain moist. If, how-
ever, they just touch the water occasionally,

ARRIVAL AT BOMBAY. 41

they are capable of skimming along for two or
three hundred yards.

As evening stole on, the upper deck was now
a delightful resort — every spar, every rope was
sharply defined against a clear green sky.
Surely moonlight upon the sea is one of the
most beautiful effects in nature ; still we were
almost inclined to wish the Lady Moon could
have remained away, the large quiet stars being-
eclipsed by her light, and the luminous ap-
pearance generally seen upon the waves render-
ed invisible.

In spite of her long detention upon the Eng-
lish coast, and the constant head winds which
she encountered, the brave Hindoo accomplished
her voyage in four weeks and six days. We
entered the harbour of Bombay early in the
morning. Even with India before me, I felt a
pang of regret that the voyage was over. I ran
on deck, and saw a great deal of shipping, two
or three lighthouses, the rocky shore of a bay
fringed with low buildings, a large low fort,
with a woody hill rising behind it, and some
cocoa-nut trees, the forms of which were seen
in clear outlines against the sky. I had scarcely
time to realize my ideas of the promised land,
when, amidst the bustle upon deck, I saw a
well-known form, I heard the kindest of voices,

42 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

and there was G , all anxiety to greet his

wife and children.

Before we well knew what we were about,
we found ourselves at breakfast in a large room,
eating phomphlets, a small fish, for which Bom-
bay is celebrated. I did not think much either
of it, or of the curry which followed ; but a kind
of very thin biscuit, served with the latter, and
made of fish, which goes by the name of Bom-
bay duck, was novel and good.

The Esplanade is a monster hotel. On the
first floor is a large verandah, charmingly ar-
ranged with ferns and leafy plants. Part of
this was set aside as a kind of bazaar, where
merchants spread their wares. There were all
sorts of ivory boxes, inlaid with silver, and lined
with sandal-wood ; besides various articles in
black wood, carved in the neighbourhood. (In
India each district has its speciality.) There were
muslins and silk embroidery from Delhi, and
silver ornaments from Cutch ; besides English
productions. In front of the hotel there was a
large green, or rather, a piece of ground which
ought to have been green, on which stood some
exceedingly handsome public buildings, built of
rough-hewn stone. Endless streams of people
passed along in gay costumes and large tur-
bans. The carriages struck me as strange, yet

BOMBAY. 43

still familiar, for among them I saw the bygone
cabriolet of my youth, the risky little vehicle
Avhich so suddenly vanished to make way for
the national hansom. I verily believe that they
were the identical conveyances transported
from their native land years ago. Then there
were shigrams, and buggies, and unpainted
broughams ; besides the skeleton omnibus,
which ran on a tramway, where people, shel-
tered by an awning, appeared to be sitting upon
nothing at all ; and, strangest of all, the horses
which drew it had bonnets on — not the airy
nothing of these days, but the useful coal-
scuttle, which no one but a village goody now
condescends to wear. During the hot weather
the company lost so many animals from sun-
stroke, that they hit upon this remarkable
device.

We had apartments on the second story, large
airy rooms, with balconies, very pleasant after
our tiny cabins. We sank into some easy rock-
ing-chairs, and then, with delighted eyes, sur-
veyed the curiosities which Gr had collected

during his tour. He had been at Aden, and
brought from thence black rosaries, inlaid with
white dots of silver, rosaries which had touched
the Caba stone at Mecca, and various other
curiosities.

44 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

I longed to go out immediately, but one great
drawback in the East is that one is shorn of
one's liberty, and I had to wait with all the
patience I could command until the sun was
low, when we got into an open carriage which
G had secured, and set off for " the Stable."

No stranger has ever been half an hour in
Bombay without hearing of "the Stable" and
" the Gulf." Fortunately for me the stable was
situated at the very end of the bazaar, in the
heart of the native town. Thither we were
bound, in order to see a recent purchase of

G 's, a pair of Arab horses, fresh from the

Persian Gulf, and he had no unwilling com-
panion in M., who dearly loves a horse. We
passed through the modern town, which is
full of fine buildings, public offices, and private
houses. Handsome equipages rolled along, but
the tall black men, with peculiar liveries and
naked feet, who stood behind each well-appoint-
ed carriage, had a strange appearance. The
reclining ladies were such as may be seen any
fine afternoon in Hyde Park or the Bois. Far
more interesting were the numbers of Parsi
women who were walking about in short satin
skirts of the most brilliant hues — an exquisite
pale cherry and an emerald green appeared to
be the favourite colours — flowers were in their

THE PARSIS. 45

glossy black hah', and they wore quantities of
gold lace and handsome ornaments. Though
very showy, these costumes were tasteless in
form. The Parsi men, who are very tall and
stout, wear a straight-cut robe of purest white,
without a sash, a dress well calculated to show
off the rotundity of their persons. They have
sly eyes, fat, oily faces, and a well-to-do air.
The Parsis, in fact, are the Jews of the East,
many of them being very rich.*

We drove past a considerable space of ground

* The Parsis claim to be descended from the Medes, who
furnished the princely caste of the old Persian Empire.
They are refugees, followers of Zoroaster, who refused to
adopt the religion which the conquering Arabs endeavoured
to enforce at the point of sword, when, in the middle of the
seventh century, they invaded Persia under Caliph Omar.
After many voyages and adventures, these Avanderers ar-
rived on the coast of Guzerat, and were well received by
the ruler of that part of India. Before granting them £>ro-
tection, the chief asked them the nature of their faith, upon
which the wily Persians declared that they worshipped the
sun and fire elements, as well as the cow ; that they wore
the sacred shirt, a cincture round the loins, a cap of two
folds, and that they ornamented and perfumed their wives ;
upon which they were allowed to settle in India. They
were, however, required to dress their females in the Indian
fashion, to wear no armour, to perform the marriage cere-
mony of their children at night, and to wear the hideous
Guzerat cap of two folds. All which they steadfastly do
now, although it is nearly twelve centuries since the com-
pact was made.

46 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

which is set aside for garrison sports. Many
gentlemen on nimble ponies were playing at
polo, a game which requires great quickness of
eye, and is dangerous as far as concerns the
ponies, who are frequently lamed for life. Polo
was originally an Indian game, which was play-
ed by certain hill tribes.

When we reached the native town how
changed was the scene. Europe was left be-
hind, and the East was realized — the narrow,
winding streets, the open shops, small, but
highly characteristic, where the owner, Hindoo,
Mahomedan, or Jew, squatted amidst his wares.
Those of the same trade congregated together,
the workers in brass and copper, with bright
vessels of curious shape, such as the lato, with
its narrow neck and bulging sides, the lamp of
many beaks, the little bells, with images at the
top, used in the temples. Then there are the
leather workers, from whom one may select em-
broidered slippers, turned up at the point,
saddle-bags, and trappings for horses, covered
with gold, and silver, and cowrie shells. There
were rows of wood-carvers, who work upon the
black wood furniture peculiar to the Bombay
Presidency, and fine specimens of their art were
placed about to attract attention. The general
merchant had his small store, heaped from floor

INDIAN DRUGGISTS. 47

to ceiling with bales of cloth, gaudy shawls, and
cottons, with various patterns printed upon
them, vases, and griffins, and pagodas, for furni-
ture, and dark but deep-hued checks and stripes
for garments. There were little niches where
betel-leaves and pungent seeds were sold, and,
most picturesque of all, were the shops of the
Indian druggists, where one was sure to see a
venerable old man with a flowing white beard;
probably a learned man, and one who possibly
dabbled in magic, his drugs ranged about in
jars of china, which would have made the
fortune of a European bric-a-brac shop. By
a Christian these jars were not, alas! to be
bought for love or money.

No two houses were alike, some were tall
and pink, others were squat and yellow, and both
perhaps were neighboured by dwellings of a
superior order, which stood back, not hidden,
but sheltered by plantain-trees, and tall cocoa-
nut palms, spreading their elegant fan-shaped
leaves against a crimson background, for the
fervid sun was setting. These houses had in
general two tiers of wooden verandahs, with
shutters. The ground-floor was partly open,
and supported by pillars of wood, richly carved,
and on the projecting beams and latticed frames
there was many a quaint device. I was charmed

48 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

with these irregular old dwellings. A dead
wall, with the pyramidal summit of a Jaina
temple appearing above it, would vary the scene,
or a mosque, with broad dome and airy pinnacles,
and sometimes we came upon a Hindoo temple,
adorned with highly-coloured mythological sub-
jects, with lights in its interior, which cast a
glow upon some hideous copper idol, or figure
of stone, daubed with red paint, and greasy
with libations of melted butter. Every step
was a surprise.

49

CHAPTER III.

Hindoo Women — Arabian Beauties — Kites of Betrothal —
Funeral Procession — English Chambermaids in India
— Flower-market — Jain Establishments for Superan-
nuated Animals — Drive to Malabar Point — A Brah-
man Village — The Esplanade — Island and Temples of
Elephanta — Description of one of the Temples — The
Three-faced God — Sculptured Figures — Rock Temples
— Curious Ants' Nest — Western Ghats.

THE appearance of the Hindoo women was
very striking, with their tall forms, digni-
fied gait, and classical drapery of dingy blue or
red, relieved by a bright bordering. Many of
them balanced baskets or brass vessels upon
their heads, their shapely arms straight down,
unless they bore infants, and then the wee
thing was placed astride on the mother's well-
developed hip. Older children, bronze or black,
played in the gutters, or swarmed about the
houses — wild creatures, innocent of clothes,
with flashing eyes and unkempt hair, adorned
with a variety of ornaments. The girls wore
necklaces, armlets, and anklets, and the boys
VOL. I. E

50 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

had silver waist-chains of beautiful workman-
ship. These ornaments are of considerable
value, the metal of which they are made being
very pure. They are, however, dangerous pos-
sessions. There is seldom a newspaper in
which there is not a notice or advertisement
respecting some child who has been inveigled
away, and either robbed or murdered.*

When we reached "the Stables/' the Arab
beauties were trotted out to be admired. They
were gentle creatures, with small heads, delicate
ears, liquid eyes, and red nostrils, and appeared
to appreciate the caresses bestowed upon them.
As we returned, we were fortunate enough to
see a curious phase of Indian life. The month
and the conjunction of the planets being favour-
able, there were numbers of Hindoo marriages,

* The advertisements run as follows : —

" Robbing a Boy of an Ornament. — Curson Hurjee,
living at Nagdavee Street, stated that, Avhilst his son, aged
seven years, was playing opposite to his house on Thursday,
some Mahomedan enticed him away to Beebee-jan Street,
and took from him a silver waist-chain, valued at six
rupees."

" Baboo Butta reports that on Wednesday he went to
the Temple of Jeevun Lall, at Bhooleshwur, carrying his
child in his arms. When passing through a crowd at the
door of the temple, some person had cut off from the child's
person a gold ornament, called Ram Namee, valued at
twenty rupees. Inquiries are being made by the police."

CEREMONY OF BETROTHAL. 51

or, to speak more correctly, betrothals. By the
rite of betrothal the connubial knot is tightly
tied, and all the necessary ceremonies and feasts
take place. Amongst the higher castes it is a
rule that a boy may be married at any time
after he has been invested with the sacred
thread, which must take place before he is eight
years of age, for before that time he is not con-
sidered to belong to the Hindoo religion, or to
be a member of his father's caste. The girl
must not be married before she is ten years old,
and her age must be less than that of her hus-
band. The principal ceremonies are, the writ-
ing by astrologers of the names of the parties,
and the day and hour when the wedding is to
take place ; the walking round a fire three times,
seven steps at each time ; the tying together
the garments of the contracting parties ; and the
Homa, or burnt sacrifice, after which the con-
tract is indissolvable. The girl is given away
by the father in his own house, where the bride
continues to reside for a few days, after which
she lives with her husband's family, at their
expense. It was most amusing to see the little
brides and bridegrooms on horseback, heading
gay processions of relations and friends, in
which silk umbrellas fringed with gold bore a
prominent part, the little people appearing

E 2

52 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

gaudier than butterflies in their spangled mus-
lins and streaming ribbons. As for the horses,
which I saw standing before some houses wait-
ing for married couples, they were scarcely
visible, being covered with velvet housings,
gilded trappings, feathers, and wreaths of
flowers. The short Indian twilight being over,
the open chambers, the verandahs, the gardens,
were brilliantly illuminated. We could see the
guests, and hear the discordant music. Rockets
shot up into the sky, and broke into balls of
brilliant colours ; crackers exploded in every
corner, and Bengal lights tinged all around with
their vivid hues. The natives have a passion
for fireworks, without which no merry-making
is complete.

In the midst of this festivity our carriage
had to stop, in order to make way for a small
procession of men, each of whom carried a
blazing torch. The light danced over the face
of a dead man, whom they were carrying along
to the funeral pyre. As the bier passed, we
caught the overpoweringly sweet odour of the
Indian jessamine, which the Hindoos place in
the hands of the dying, and wreath round the
dead. I went to rest that night feverish with
excitement ; shadows of all that I had seen
during the past six weeks floated before me,

AWAKING IN A STRANGE COUNTRY. 53

and then I fell into a deep sleep, for an airy
chamber and a roomy bed are very delightful
after a close cabin and a small berth.

There is surely no sensation more pleasant
than that which attends the first awaking in
a strange country. My slumbers were inter-
rupted at an early hour by the vociferous sing-
ing of a bird. I at once concluded that the
charming notes were those of the far-famed
bul-bul, and jumped up in haste, in order to see
what the bird was like ; but, alas ! the opening
of the lattice put an end to the song, and the
only feathered creature I could see was a hand-
some brown scavenger-hawk, which sailed off
with a shrill cry. A man was slopping water
in a primitive manner over a would-be green
plot ; further away lay the sleepy blue sea, and
low woods, which sloped gently to the curving
bay. Presently there entered a very black girl,
swathed in dingy white muslin, bearing an
earthenware pitcher of peculiar form. She was
adorned with numerous ornaments, including a
large filigree nose-ring, and several rings of a
smaller description, set along the rim of each
ear, a pretty silver necklace, and on her arms
slender hoops of sparkling red and semi-trans-
parent green glass, which, worn by a lady,
might have passed for ruby and jade-stone. It

54 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

is wonderful how these people contrive to pass
rings so small over their knuckles. It would be
impossible were their bones like those of Euro-
peans, but, being half gristle, they are in some
degree compressible.

The managers of the hotel had, at one time, a
great wish to have English chambermaids, and,
the story goes, that they induced a band of
sixty young girls to come from England, but
every one of them got married within a month
of their landing, and the experiment was not

repeated. G kindly took me to see the

markets before the heat had tarnished the early
beauty of the flowers and fruit. We got into
one of the skeleton omnibuses, and found it a cool
and clean conveyance. The little transit might
have been the making of us, for on alighting we
were presented with a couple of lottery tickets.
We found the markets exquisitely clean and
admirably arranged. The flower, fruit, and
vegetable market is a circular building, lighted
from above, which encloses a beautiful public
garden.

Never had I seen such a luxurious profusion
of beautiful flowers and fruits as was set forth
upon the white marble slabs, which sloped up
on each side of the broad promenade, which was
thronged, not crowded, by endless streams of

FLOWER-MARKET OF BOMBAY. 55

people, in strange costumes and gay apparel,
ever passing into strange combinations, like the
bits of coloured glass in a kaleidoscope. There
were pyramids of flowers, not set forth in the
European fashion, but picked with little stem
and no leaves, and heaped up carelessly. There
were lovely pale pink roses, and an endless
variety of double jessamine flowers, pink and
white, probably destined to be threaded toge-
ther for the adornment of the temples. The
tuberoses were almost too sweet. There were
gorgeous hillocks of the double yellow mari-
gold, to be woven into coronets for women,
their intense colour being well calculated to set
off the dark skins and shiny black hair which
they were meant to adorn. Some of the smaller
flowers and fragrant leaves, made into tiny
sprigs, were intended to be thrown into the
finger-glasses which figure at every Anglo-
Indian's meal, the lemon-scented verbena being
often employed for this purpose. Glowing
fruits peeped forth from beds of cool green
leaves. The more delicate sorts were placed in
wicker baskets, artistically lined with pieces of
the plantain leaf cut into shape. We bought one
of these little boats, with its cargo of dull-hued
lilac figs, luscious and small, with just one tear of
liquid sugar upon each— the true goutte tfor.

56 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

Among the fruits with which I was familiar,
were many species which I had never seen
before ; but to enumerate them would be
tedious. The vegetables were of infinite variety,
including gourds of the most grotesque forms,
which Nature must have imagined in a mirthful
hour. Some of them were intended for eating,
but others would be carefully cleaned out, and
the hard rinds converted into vessels for water,
and other liquids. The capsicums and chillis
were curious and pretty, some being large, shiny,
and intensely green, while others were small
and red and pointed, and made one hot to look
at them. There were many varieties of the
egg-plant, some of them white and smooth like
ivory, others resembling balls of gold ; and the
long purple aubergines were very handsome. I
could have spent hours with satisfaction in these
markets, which were the finest I had ever seen ;
but time pressed, and we passed into the interior
garden, a charming, cool, and verdant spot, in
which there were numerous varieties of the
palm tribe, all sorts of velvety, long-leaved
plants, and trembling ferns of exquisite beauty.
It was strange to see caneless clumps of the
caladium of tender green, spotted with white
and red, along with other plants, only at home
to be seen in a hot-house, where one lingers for a

REFUGES FOR SUPERANNUATED ANIMALS. 57

moment, in mortal dread of catching one's death
of cold on again breathing the raw air outside.
I should have liked to have explored the fish
mai-ket, which no doubt contained many curious
and strange varieties ; but the sun was up, and
as we hesitated at the door of the market, we
perceived that its atmosphere was not as
odoriferous as that of the floral Paradise which
we had quitted.

I had a great wish to visit one of the Hindoo
— or, rather, Jain — establishments for super-
annuated animals. There was something very
pleasing in the idea of such a refuge for these
poor creatures. Alas ! I found, on inquiry, that
the originally humane intention had degenerated
into a mere superstition, and that such institu-
tions are now farmed out, and their inmates
much neglected. In the rural districts the
natives are, I believe, as a rule, kind to their
animals ; but in large towns the bullocks and
horses are sadly maltreated. The society for the
protection of animals, lately established in Bom-
bay, has, however, done a good deal, locally, to
amend their condition. The society has also
taken under its protection the snakes, and some
other small creatures, which are frightfully tor-
mented by the conjurers. At breakfast I was
much laughed at respecting my Indian night-

58 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

ingale, which turned out to be a canary, whose
cage my neighbour, an elderly gentleman, put
out every morning on his balcony.

The prettiest drive about Bombay is to Mala-
bar Point. We set off towards it as day de-
clined, stopping en route to do some necessary
shopping at an immense store called Treacher's,
one of those tiresome labyrinths where one has
to walk a quarter of a mile, and be put in the
right path half a dozen times, in order to pur-
chase a packet of pins or a skein of silk. There
is a co-operative society in Bombay, but the
managers and the shareholders do nothing but
dispute ; and as the prices are high, and the
articles of inferior quality, it is probable that its
existence will be short. Of the two roads that
lead to the Point, we took the higher in going
and returned by the shore. Not so very many
years ago, Malabar Hill was an unwholesome
jungle of palms, with a thick undergrowth of
prickly bushes. It is now partially cleared, and
has become a fashionable quarter of low, far-
spreading white houses, which are surrounded
by beautiful grounds, and shaded by the tall
trees of the original jungle. I was well ac-
quainted with the date-palm, but not so with
its cocoa-nut rival, which, with its splendid
fan-like leaves, is in many respects the finest of

MALABAR POINT. 5£h

the two. The thin and slightly-curved stein
of the latter is, however, a drawback upon its
merits. Massed together, they had a very fine
effect as they stood out dark against the red
sky.

It was curious to see the agility with which
the natives climbed the cylindrical stems, using
their flexible feet as a second pair of hands, and
sliding down with amazing rapidity. There is
a celebrated tank upon Malabar Hill, which
interested me much, as it was the first I had
seen of these ornamental sheets of water,
so intimately connected with the religious and
domestic life of the Hindoo people. It was
enclosed by walls with highly ornamental
balustrades, from which broad flights of steps
descended. It was shaded by tall peepul-trees
and far-spreading banyans with numerous roots,
under which rose groups of pagodas, and a
Brahman village, the little white houses of
which were inhabited by the priests and their
families. Every Brahman is a priest. It was
a very pretty scene. The Government house at
Malabar Point is a square building of imposing

size. G thought that I might like to visit

it, but to my mind a modern palace, with
nothing particular in its interior, presented few
attractions, and I was desirous of employing the

GO MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

golden hours in driving round by the towers of
silence, the fine temples, and in observing the
general aspect of the country.

The Point was a savage-looking spot, swept
by the burning wind. All vegetation had
ceased, but the wet season was advanced, and
possibly after the rains a change for the better
might come over the spot which now appeared
to be so desolate. The fort is long, narrow,
and low, but its hidden strength is great. It
has been altered indeed since the days of Cap-
tain Cook, who found it " a pretty well-seated
but ill-fortified house." Four guns of brass
were then the whole defence of the island. It
has an ugly shore, piled up with splintered pieces
of rock, which not even the eternal beating of
the waves has rendered less angular. Even
the black sea-weed refuses to cling to the hard
ungenial basalt, and gets washed into crevices,
where it petrifies. The celebrated Esplanade is
a fine drive, commanding a glorious view over
the rosy sea when the sun dips below the hori-
zon. As we passed along it we saw plenty of
handsome carriages, elegant toilettes, and well-
mounted equestrians.

Our last day in Bombay was spent in visiting
the island and rock-cut temples of Elephanta ;
and as G wished to show a little attention

ISLAND OF ELEPHANTA. 61

to some of our fellow-passengers who still lin-
gered on at the hotel, a party was made up,
and a steam-launch secured, which was well
supplied with light refreshments and iced
drinks. We set out with light hearts to enjoy
ourselves. The island of Elephanta is about
six miles from Bombay, and we sped gaily to-
wards it over the crisp waves. Visitors had
formerly to be carried on shore if the tide was
low, but this is no longer necessary, as a long
jetty has been thrown out, formed of great
square blocks of concrete, which, in order to
humour the waves, have been placed half a foot
apart. Our transit over them was not pleasant,
for they were covered with fine green sea-weed,
which was very slippery. At high tide the islet
is but three miles in circumference, but at low
water the sea retreats so much that its area is
doubled. It is formed of a mighty volcanic
mountain, which has thrown up two lofty
craterous peaks. The excavations are in the
grip between them. The ascent would have
been toilsome had not the winding road been
cut into wide steps, now worn into hollows by
the feet of the pilgrims and the devotees who
at certain periods repair to the island in order
to worship at its famous shrines. In the Spring
of the year a great fair is held in the very
temple itself.

62 MY ^EAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

Cut through forest and jungle, nothing could
be more romantic and beautiful than the scenery.
Tall palms of different species all but met over-
head. There were numbers of the fig tribe,
glossy and green, and tall grapes and strange
plants grew at their feet, dead and brown, but
perfect in form. The stems of great creepers
coiled snake-like round many a tree which they
would ultimately strangle ; others were knotted
into the most intricate tangles, and their stream-
ing tendrils swept down to the very ground.
Some men of very wild appearance offered
beetles for sale, but I did not purchase any,
which I have always regretted, as they were
very beautiful, looking like frosted gold. I was
told that they would die in an hour, and, like
Aladdin's glittering fruit, fade into a dull grey
hue. The same men had also handfuls of the
seed of the liquorice plant, scarlet berries with
a black spot, which jewellers once used in their
tiny scales, and which the natives are fond of
stringing into necklaces.

At last we reached the plateau which was our
destination. It was a sylvan scene, a green
spot, in the midst of which stood the rude hut
of a forest keeper. Some pretty white goats
were playing about with their kids, and a group
of magnificent trees spread a shade which was

MYSTERIOUS TEMPLE. 63

very welcome after our hot walk. We had to
pay a fee in order to be free of the caves ; the
money is so collected in order to prevent impo-
sition on the part of the guides. After certain
sums are deducted, the remainder is distributed
among the different charitable institutions in
Bombay. A couple of men were told off in
order to accompany us, and to see that we did
no mischief, which duty they fulfilled by lying
down in a corner, and going fast to sleep.

We suddenly came upon a high craggy face
of black rock, half concealed by bushes, and in
the dim obscurity caught sight of the front of
the mysterious temple, which the natives attri-
bute to the shadowy sons of Pandu. A curious
thrill shot through me as I bowed my head
under a streaming fringe of hanging plants, and
stood amidst the strange gods of this great
branch of the Aryan race, so far separated from
me by religion and country, and yet to whom I
was bound by a common ancestry. It is a spot
calculated to inspire awe. In its dark recesses
many a human sacrifice has doubtless been
offered up. The jagged roof is supported by
pillars, the shafts of which, though symmetrically
shaped, are rough-hewn, as if to contrast more
effectually with the finely-polished surface of the
black basalt above, which bulges out into beau-

64 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

tiful flutings, compressed in more than one
place by fillets of large beads or sharp-cut leaves.
The capitals represent cushions with tassels, on
which rest the great beams cut from the ceiling.
With the usual irregularity of Eastern art, the
columns are placed at unequal distances, a cir-
cumstance which, strange to say, does not de-
tract from the general harmony; indeed it is
only upon examination that the fact is dis-
covered.

The temple has two wings or side chapels,
independent excavations, which stand back, and
have no direct communication with it. It would
require an abler pen than mine, and a far
greater knowledge of the subject than I possess,
to attempt any regular description of this
curiously-wrought rock cave. I can only speak
with authority of the effect its salient points
produced upon my mind, in which profound
interest, wonder, and a certain kind of admira-
tion, struggled with some feeling akin to fear.
I do not think that I could have borne to have
been left alone in this twilight place, with the
stony eyes of the assembled gods fixed upon
me. I should have fancied that the thousand
eyes of Indra regarded me with displeasure ;
that Vishnu's third organ of vision, which is to
burst into fire and consume the world, had be-

THE TRIMURTI. 65

gun to kindle ; that the hooded cobra twined
about his arm was uncoiling, or that streams
were trickling from the deity's wave-crested
head-dress, the cradle of the three rivers which
united form the sacred flood-tormented Ganges.

Fortunately I was not alone. I shook myself
free from such nightmare fancies, and hastened
to join my companions, who were assembled
in full conclave before the Trimurti, a three-
faced bust, which is infinitely solemn and digni-
fied. The faces represent Brahma, the creator ;
Vishnu, the preserver ; and Shiva, the destroyer.
They are very grave, and seem to look at you
sternly, as if offended that you do not bow
down and adore them, as millions of our race
have done before.

Every available part of the temple is sculp-
tured in high relief with mythological figures,
colossal in comparison with human beings, but,
for aught 1 know, they may be miniature re-
presentations of the gods themselves. The
scenes depicted are explained only by the
wildest stories which can possibly be conceived.
Both these and the distorted figures I at first
felt to be distasteful, but this feeling partly
wore away when I came to be better acquainted
with their hidden meaning. The Sinya chapel,
placed in the principal temple, is a large square

VOL. I. F

$6 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

erection, with four doorways, but the doors
themselves are gone. There, on a raised plat-
form of black basalt, worn by the feet of mil-
lions of worshippers, stands the cone, the em-
blem of this most ancient worship. Gigantic
figures in high relief, two and two, guard every
entrance, each attended by a hideous dwarf.
These figures are exceedingly interesting, as
they probably embody some ancient idea re-
specting the early Aryan warriors, the dwarfs,
of course, representing the conquered abori-
gines. In one of the side chapels traces of
paint remain — simple squares of red and white,
set together in a board — and from underneath
the chapel a spring of pure water still bubbles
up, and forms a pool, which no doubt has for
centuries been used as a bathing-place by de-
votees and pilgrims. After all, these excava-
tions are not very old, competent judges be-
lieving them to have been executed between
the eighth and tenth centuries of the Christian
era.

Mr. Fergusson has made some remarks re-
specting vast caves in general, which are very
much to the point.* Though so deeply inter-

* "Considerable misconception exists on the subject of
cutting temples in the rock. Almost everyone who sees
these temples is struck with the apparently prodigious

ELEPHANTA. (37

ested in these caves, they cast a shade upon my
spirits, and aroused feelings of gloom and sad-
ness which I was unable to define, and I was
glad to step forth into the cheerful light of day,
to see the bright sea glitter, and hear the twit-
ter of birds and the hum of insects.

There are some smaller excavations scattered
over the island,, supposed to have been cells
inhabited by hermits. With the exception of
a few Government officers and their followers,
no one now resides at Elephanta. It has been
deserted in consequence of the extreme insalu-

amount of labour bestowed on their excavations. In real-
ity, however, it is considerably less expensive to excavate a
temple than to build one. Take, for instance, the Kylas
(Ellora), the most wonderful of all this class. To excavate
the area on which it stands would require the removal of
about 100,000 cubic yards of rock ; but as the base of the
temple is solid, and the superstructure massive, it occupies
in round numbers one half of the excavated area, so that
the question is simply this — whether it is easier to chip
aAvay 50,000 yards of rock, and shoot it to spoil (to borrow
a railway term) down a hillside, or to quarry 50,000 cubic
yards of stone, remove it probably a mile, at least, to the
place where the temple is to be built, and then to raise and
set it up. The excavating process would probably ^ost
about one-tenth of the other. The sculpture and ornament
would be the same in both instances, more especially in
India, where buildings are always set up in block, and the
carvings executed in situ" — Fergusson's Hand-book of
Architecture.

f2

68 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

brity of the rice-bearing swamps at the foot of
the mountain. As we strolled along the jungle
paths, a member of our party, a keen sportsman,
made an arrangement with one of the guards
to bring his gun next day. The sport promised
consisted of hogs, hares, wild cats, snipe, and
other animals. It was not the season for quail,
but there are periods when they cover the shore.
Shortly after we visited the island, I saw in
The Times of India that a fine tiger had been
taken there — an unusual circumstance. It is
supposed that the beast had swum over from
the main land. There are many of these wild
animals in the deep ravines of the Bhor GMt.
M. was fatigued, and reaching a pleasant
spot, sat down under a tree, and fell asleep.
I preferred to stray about in a scene which
to me was new, strange, and delightful.
In my wanderings I came upon a curious
ants' nest, and I saw suspended many long
bags, made of fibre, the work of the weaver
bird. Under a leafless tree a quantity of large
brown pods of tamarinds strowed the ground,
and climbing a steep bit of rock, I sat down
to enjoy their sharp refreshing flavour. The
view from my lofty perch was charming. At
my feet were numbers of waving trees ; the sea
was an intense blue, and on the opposite shore

THE PILGRIMS' STEPS. 69

of Salsette the hills were covered with wood.

The head of the bay was closed by lofty
mountains, range above range, and peak above
peak. They were the great Western Ghats,
which we were to cross upon the morrow. The
word ghat, in Indian parlance, means a moun-
tain leading up to a plain above. It is also
applied to the broad flights of stairs which
ornament the tanks. The word is familiar to
those who are acquainted with the secluded
district of Cleveland, in the East Riding of
Yorkshire. It there signifies a narrow passage
between two houses. A small but interesting
history of Cleveland has lately appeared, con-
taining a glossary of the many Danish words
embedded in the dialect of that country, and
the word ghat is one of them.

The refreshing sea breeze fanned our cheeks
as we wended our way down the Pilgrims'
Steps. Two or three sailors who were loitering
about presented us with some fruit, the size of
a small apple, which they had gathered from off
a palm-tree, from whence they hung in heavy
clusters. It contained a clear white jelly,
which, although a little mawkish and sticky,
was not altogether unpleasant. I have never
been able to make out the precise species of
palm from which it was gathered, but suspect

70 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

that the fruit was immature. Before re-em-
barking, we strolled along the sands, searching
for shells, but all that we found were of a very
ordinary sort.

In returning, the tide was with us, and we
stood well out into the middle of the bay,
which is very beautiful. The amphitheatre of
mountains, the Eastern characteristics of the
island we had just quitted, the smiling shore,
with here and there a domed and pinnacled
mosque, rosy red in the rays of the setting sun,
made a delightful scene. Many islets were
dotted about — Butcher's Isle, and Old Woman's
Isle, and a third, with long rows of empty
barracks, built at vast expense, and then deserted
in consequence of their fatally unhealthy posi-
tion. During their occupation, numbers of
soldiers died of that most painful malady, the
Guinea worm, which generally proceeds from
drinking unwholesome water.

As we approached the harbour, the scene
became most animated. Noble three-masted
P. and 0. steamers lay at anchor. A little
apart from these were others, belonging to
different companies, amongst which our own
Hindoo cut no mean figure. There were stately
sailing vessels and small craft innumerable,
which were not huddled together in confusion.

SPLENDID SUNSET. 71

but lay at a friendly distance from one another.
Every spar, every rope stood out against a
background of fiery crimson — such a sunset,
such vivid colouring as I had never pictured to
myself as possible even in an Indian sunset.
As the soft twilight stole on, the hue intensified
— the world below the horizon might have been
in flames. It was a magnificent conclusion to
one of the most delightful days I ever spent.

72

CHAPTER IV.

Journey to Belgaum — Railway Travelling — Dyeing
in India — Wild Scenery — Incline of the Bhor
Ghat — Overpowering Heat — Sanitarium for Soldiers—
The Mahratta Mountains— Peculiar Features of the
Indian Landscape— View of the Concan— Indian
Legend— Karli— Death of Captain Stewart— Camp
of Exercise— Founder of the Mahratta Kingdom—
Itinerant Merchants— Evening in the Public Gardens

A Drive by Night— Poonah— Murder of Narazan

Rao.

THE time which G was able to spare for
Bombay came to an end all too soon.
We took leave of such of our Hindoo com-
panions as still remained, and stepping into a
flight of shigrams, set forth on our journey.
Belgaum, which was our destination, is in the
southern part of Mahratta. A few years ago
the district in which it is situated formed part
of the Madras Presidency, but was handed over
to that of Bombay for some reason relating to
the better distribution of troops. There were
two routes open to us. The easiest would

RAILWAY TRAVELLING. 73

have been to have taken a coasting steamer to
Vingorla, which would have placed us within
sixty miles of our destination, but this not fall-
ing in with G 's arrangements, we took the

longer but far more interesting line which lay
inland.

I was delighted at the prospect of journeying
for three hundred and thirty miles through a
country so new and strange. We were aided
as far as Poonah (a hundred and nineteen
miles) by the Great Indian Peninsular Railway,
the accommodation on which is first-rate. We
had previously engaged a saloon carriage, to
Avhich was attached a dressing-room, with
water laid on — a great luxury. This again led
into an airy compartment, set apart for ladies,
of which we also took possession, being the only
first-class passengers. The fares on this line
are naturally high, for its formation was a
stupendous undertaking — one of the greatest
triumphs of railway engineering in the world.

Leaving the town, we passed through the
Portuguese suburb, in the midst of which stands
a handsome Roman Catholic church, to which
large schools are attached, and on through the
district where the dyers dwell. It was covered
with shallow cuttings, filled to the brim with
deep rich colours — blue, and red, and saffron,

74 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

and stretched out in all directions were
the long cotton saris, in which the Indian
women drape their elastic forms. There is
very little variety to be found in the Indian
dyes, the natives being unsuccessful in their
attempts to produce solid mixed tints ; with
one exception — a mixture of blue and green,
which is very harmonious, and much used by
sportsmen in the jungle. The process of print-
ing is executed in a curiously primitive man-
ner, the patterns principally consisting of dots
and lines. Greater success is attained in
dyeing silks, the hues of which are lasting as
well as brilliant. At the desire of the English
Government the forest commissioners have
lately had a meeting upon the subject, experi-
ments under the direction of good chemists
have been made, and it is expected that great
improvements in this kind of manufactures will
be introduced.

For some time we sped along a swampy rice-
growing country, passing extensive salt-works,
the dirty hillocks and shallow pans, as usual, an
ugly sight ; but we caught charming glimpses of
the sea at the head of the bay,with Elephanta,and
the other islands, shadowy and uncertain in the
beams of the hot sun. Reaching a large junction,
we turned abruptly to the south, and steadily

THE BHOR GHAT. 75

progressed towards the Ghats, the masses of
mountain which lay between us and the Deccan,
the level plains which were to be our abiding
place. These mountains are formed of various
sorts of trap, very hard and highly crystallized.
At the stations glittering specimens were ex-
posed for sale. At Nassel we plunged into a
narrow ravine, where the rough rocks nearly
met overhead, and began to ascend. The most
considerable railway incline in Europe is that on
the Sommering pass, between Vienna and
Trieste ; but its proportions are on a far smaller
scale than those of the Bhor Ghat, which ascends
eighteen hundred and thirty-one feet, and is
nearly sixteen miles in length ; in parts the
latter is wonderfully precipitate, the gradient
being one in twelve; the average is one in forty-
eight.

The noonday heat was overpowering (in
Bombay, March is the hottest month in the

year), and caused G and M. to withdraw

into the lattice-closed ladies' saloon ; but
I was too much excited by the novelty of my
position to follow their example. No good view
was to be obtained without kneeling upon the
seat and putting my head out of the window ;
the eaves sheltered my head from the fierce
rays of the sun, but the heated air struck upon
my face like blasts from an oven.

76 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

The scenery was glorious. The lofty moun-
tains and the deep ravines — Panbul, an abrupt
rock, with a flat top, two thousand five hundred
feet high, and the immense shoulder of the Bhor
Ghat still loftier — always threatened to bar our
progress which ever way we turned. (Bhor is the
Mahratta word for the juguba tree, which grows
plentifully upon this mountain — hence the name.)
Fort-crowned Moteran is a prominent object,
presenting to the north a perpendicular face of
small black rock, which rises two thousand feet
above the narrow plain that separates it from
the sea.

On a plateau near the top, which slopes to
the brink of a frightful precipice, there is a
sanitarium for sick soldiers, and a collection of
cottages, to which the Europeans who live in
Bombay, thirsting for cool breezes, thankfully
resort in the hot season. The coloured view of
this place, with its formal gravel paths, and
stiff gardens, in which nothing appears to grow,
reminded me of a sea-side advertisement at an
English railway-station. As we mounted, the
view became superb, embracing the " peaks
familiar with forgotten years," the piled-up
mountains of the Western Ghats, the far, dim
plains of the Concan, and the lovely harbour of
Bombay, its indigo waters flecked by innumer-

THE MAHRATTA MOUNTAINS. 77

able white-sailed ships, reduced by distance to
the size of sea-gulls.

The Mahratta mountains are of most pecu-
liar shape, resembling, with occasional excep-
tions, gigantic cones, from which ages of
monsoons have swept the tops, leaving exposed
the skeleton summits, perpendicular walls of
basaltic rock, lofty plateaus, natural strong-
holds, which the war-like chiefs converted
into impregnable fortresses. On many of these
plateaus there are abundant springs of fine
water, and when such is not the case, the hard
nature of the rock is admirably adapted for
reservoirs. Our ascent was, at first, very
gradual. We crossed a lofty embankment,
entered a narrow rock-hewn passage, and on
through a dark tunnel, to emerge upon a
lengthy viaduct. As we advanced, the iron road
became more difficult for the panting engine to
climb. I rejoiced over its laboured pace, for
every minute developed the majesty of the
prospect. We swept up the mighty Bhor Ghat,
curving in and out of its bulging sides, catch-
ing sight of airy tracks far above our level,
stretches of the road which we were about to
traverse. Terra firma seemed to vanish; we
appeared to be sailing past the mountain side,
with a deep, deep valley beneath. We were,

78 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

in fact, gliding along a bench of rock wide
enough, but no more, to receive the iron way.
It was frightful, utter annihilation, if a wheel
should break, a chain become uncoupled, or a
train warped by the burning sun. The charac-
ter of the scenery was quite new to me. Here
Nature was on so vast a scale. Broad as were
the valleys, the effect was lost in their profound
depth, where a deep green line of jungle
marked the home of the tiger and of the still
fiercer panther. And then the colouring of the
tangled vegetation, which, though dead, had
■suffered no decay. Changed to a tint of burn-
ing gold, it still clothed the mountain side,
save where the polished surface of the huge
masses of black rock were so smooth that
nothing could cling to them. This Indian
landscape was, beyond everything, solemn
and grand. One vast promontory lives
in my memory. It stood boldly forth, rooted
for all time in the horse-shoe valley beneath, a
fit position for the blazing beacons which guided
the fierce Mahratta marauders on their mid-
night march when steam power lay an embryo
in the womb of time.

The station at the top of the incline is called
the reversing station. There was a short delay,
which we employed in looking back upon the

THE CONCAN. 79

mountains we had traversed ; and in endeavour-
ing to trace the iron road we had passed along,
we obtained occasional glimpses of narrow cut-
tings from the rock, mere threads they looked,
banks formed upon arches, or upon lofty piers
built into the mountain sides. No wonder that
this gigantic undertaking cost a fabulous sum.

Leaving the station, we doubled back again.
The two lines proceeding from a common source,
one mounting, the other descending, have a
curious effect, and make a striking photograph.
As we slowly journeyed we obtained a fine
view over the Concan, a vast stretch of country,
varying in width from twenty-five to fifty
miles, which here spreads between the ghats
and the sea, but runs far south, and along the
coast of Malabar. In this space different
languages are spoken, and Hindoo geographers
divide it into seven parts. It would not be
India, did not some old-world fable seek
to account for the existence of these great
plains. One of the Paorans (a collection of
mythological stories regarded as sacred) re-
counts how, Puresham having extirpated the
Kshittrees and oppressive Rajahs from a certain
country, conferred the conquered territory on
the Brahmans, but they ungratefully refused
their benefactors permission to reside amongst

80 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

tkem_, so Puresham, in search of a home, bent
bis bow, and let fly an arrow from the top of the
great western mountains, at which the ocean
was intimidated, and receding before the arrow
to the point at which it fell, left dry the ex-
tensive tract of country now known by the
name of the Concan and the Malabar coast.

The country at our feet appeared to be culti-
vated, The fields now sterile were, for the
purpose of irrigation, divided by banks of earth
into squares. There were tanks of shimmering
water fringed with trees, under which were
groups of white temples, with conical roofs, and
noble trees were dotted about, principally teak,
the wood of which is even harder and more en-
during than that of oak. Then, though all
small objects became indistinct in the sultry
atmosphere, we could still trace the blue line of
hills which bordered the coast.

Before us were many strange funnel-shaped
hills, and basaltic rocks of remarkable form.
They represented castles and obelisks, gigantic
figures and grotesque faces. One rock is known
by the name of the Duke's Nose ; but our pace
had quickened, and before we were disenchanted
they were gone. Shortly before reaching Lanow-
lee M. pointed across the valley to some trees
clinging round a jutting rock, with a dark

CAVE OF KARLI. 81

spot in the centre, the entrance to the far-famed
Cave of Karli. A tantalizing vision. She had
ridden up the slippery path which leads to it,
a narrow ledge cut from the rock, with nothing
to protect it from a steep precipice. Karli is
considered to be the finest chaitya cave in
India. It is supposed to date from the second
century before the Christian era, and is in ex-
cellent preservation ; the curious teak wood
ribbed roof, and the screen, being, without
doubt, as ancient as the excavation.*

It was at Karli that Captain Stewart, who

* The geographical distribution of the caves is somewhat
singular, more than nine-tenths of those now known being-
found within the Bombay Presidency .... I was at one
time inclined to connect this remarkable distribution with
the comparative proximity of this side of India to the rock-
cutting Egyptians and Ethiopians, but the coincidence can
be more simply accounted for by the existence of rocks, in
both countries, perfectly adapted to such works. The whole
cave district of India is composed of horizontal strata of
amygdaloid and other cognate trap formations, generally
speaking of very considerable thickness and great uni-
formity of texture, and possessing besides the advantage of
their edges being generally exposed in perfectly perpendicr -
lar cliffs. So that no rock in any part of the world could
either be more suited for the purpose, or more favourably
situated than these formations are. In the rarest possible
instances are there any flaws or faults to disturb the
uniformity of the design. — Fergusson's Hand-book of
Architecture.

VOL. I. G

82 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

had taken possession of the Bhor Ghat in the pre-
vious November (1779), was killed by a cannon-
ball. He was mentioned in the despatches as
" a most gallant and judicious officer, and pos-
sessed of the true military spirit !" To this day
his name is familiar in the Mahratta country
by the appellation of the Stewart Phakray, a
circumstance which marks the strong impres-
sion made by his conduct.*

We took advantage of an hour's delay at
Lanowlee, to give the children some refresh-
ment. There is a messman at this station, but
those who prefer it can bring their own pro-
visions ; and unless things are borrowed, no fee
is expected. India is not the land of fees.
Lanowlee, with its green slopes, grey boulder
stones, and tangled woods, is a charming spot.
The scattered bungalows, encircled by wide
verandahs, were almost hidden away under the
high-pitched tiled roofs, which, sweeping down,
sheltered them alike from sunshine and storm.
They were covered with beautiful creepers, and
their white pillars were festooned with sprays
of every colour, crimson predominating. It is
a place of popular resort during the hot
weather. M. had spent part of the previous

* Grant Duff's History of the Mahrattas.

SCENE OF A CAMP OF EXERCISE. 83

season there, and was delighted with the beauty
of the surrounding country, and the abundance
of wild flowers.

We now entered upon a comparatively flat
country, with fields and hedges of prickly pear.
We had reached one of the Deccan plains (the
Deccan consists of a series of table-lands), and
many a green thing served to remind us of the
elevation we had attained. We breathed again.
The hills retired, and formed a fine background
to the open country.

Some time before reaching Poonah, we came
upon a barren, sun-scorched plain, but a green
oasis in M.'s memory, having been the scene
of the large camp of exercise held during the
previous year ; and, in spite of the order that
neither women nor silver spoons should be ad-
mitted into its precincts, her husband, being
Provost-Marshal, she got smuggled in. She

had a large tent, connected with G 's by a

oanvas passage, and this was so delightfully
encumbered by piles of fruit, presents of al-
monds, pumalos, oranges, plantains, more fruits
than I can name, and little boxes containing
extra delicate productions, that she could
scarcely stir. She ate as many of them as she

possibly could ; and, G having no time to

■eat, the residue was given to the troopers.

G 2

84 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

There was no end of the delights — the noblest
elephants and stateliest camels were brought
up for her to paint ; and most charming studies
she made of the picturesque creatures and their
wild attendants. Her ears were tickled by the
moanings of the chiefs who wanted places
allotted to them, at the forthcoming review, for
numerous carriages which they did not possess ;
and, above all, at the said review she had the
felicity of being close to Indore's great prince,
Holkar, with his cotton robe_, heavy face, and
splendid jewels, mounted upon a horse, streaked
with red, and got up with a lilac tail.*

Kenkee, with its famous memories, a heath
with a few scattered houses and long lines of

* Holkar, though by no means the richest, or owner of
the largest territories amongst the native princes, is one of
the most independent. — " Throughout the length and
breadth of his Highness the Maharajah's possessions no pri-
vate individual has anything like permanent, hereditary, or
alienable rights in land. Registered proprietorship is un-
heard of in this part of India. Every cultivator is a tenant
at will of his Highness. The population of Holkar's terri-
tories is roughly estimated at 600,000 souls, and the area
at 8,318 square miles. The revenue of the state from all
sources is about thirty lakhs of rupees, and the expenditure
twenty-two lakhs." (A lakh is £10,000.) " Holkar main-
tains a military establishment of 2,050 irregular cavalry,
and 500 artillerymen, with twenty-four field guns equipped."
— Times of India Calendar, 1876. — The Holkar family are
Sudras of the shepherd tribe, and rose to eminence at the
end of the seventeenth century.

DRAWBACK TO INDIAN TRAVEL. 85

cavalry barracks, had for us a personal interest.

G was born there, and, we will hope,

christened in the prim little brick church which
presents such a remarkable contrast to the fine
group of Jain temples in its neighbourhood.

After the heat and excitement of the day, it
was very refreshing to sit in the wide verandah
of the Napier Hotel, look over the pretty flower
garden, and up at the quiet stars. The heat
next morning was considerable. The thermo-
meter in our sitting-room standing at ninety-
eight degrees, it was impossible to venture out
of doors. The great drawback to Indian travel
are the many hours of enforced inactivity, when
one is obliged to sit chafing within doors, until
the sun is down, and only the short twilight
remains in which to see the surrounding objects
of interest. Had I been able to manage for
myself, I should have been up with the lark
(there are plenty of larks in India), and have
explored half the wonders of the place before
breakfast. As it was, I sat down in a half-
closed room, with a fan in one hand, and Grant
Duffs " History of the Mahrattas," in the other
(I was too old a traveller to be unprovided with
books), and improved the shining hours by
making out what I could respecting these old
marauding villains.

86 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

I boldly skipped the pages, until 1 came to
the mention of Sevaji, the great national hero,
the founder of the Mahratta kingdom. Born in
1627, he came of a long line of princes, and
was brought up near Poonah. Poonah, how-
ever, did not become a place of much import-
ance until a later power, that of the Peishwa,
arose. (Peishwa is a Persian name for a certain
Government officer.) They were a Brahman
race from the Deccan, hereditary Prime Mini-
sters to the rajahs of Sattara. Gradually rising
to power, they became supreme chiefs of the
Mahratta nation, and in the year 1750 they
made Poonah their capital.

At the table-d'hote luncheon I fell in with
several friends. It was a sociable meal ; dogs
walked about at their ease, and small birds flew
over us, perching upon the sides of the dishes
when removed from the table, and helping
themselves to the viands with the utmost cool-
ness. The afternoon was enlivened by the
arrival of itinerant merchants, who laid their
goods open for inspection in the verandah. One
of them, a handsome dark man, with a red
turban, had some excellent toys — animals made
of strong grey linen, the features being stitched
in with coloured thread. We bought an ele-
phant, with magnificent trappings of scarlet

TRAVELLING MERCHANTS. 87

cloth, and a spirited horse, with flowing* mane
and tail ; the former, under the name of Miss
Einmeline, is still dear to the hearts of the
youthful part of the family.

Another man had scarfs and slippers, and
many sorts of embroidery, as well as fancy bas-
kets made of Kusha grass. They looked as if
they had been made by the weaver-bird, and
spangled with the wings of its insect victims.
These baskets are peculiar to the Poonah dis-
trict. A third travelling merchant had trays
full of jewelry, some bracelets and brooches
worked in a manner which was quite new to
me, in which delicate arabesques of gold were
fused into green and blue enamel. These orna-
ments were strikingly pretty, but very expen-
sive. There were also some fine Mocha stones
(so called from having been first polished at
Mocha), in which floated exquisite little branches
of red and green sea-weed. The precious stones,
set in rings and small parures, were expensive,
and not pretty.

The sun was a great glowing ball, sinking
beneath the horizon, when we drove down to
enjoy the freshness of evening in the public
gardens. The band had ceased to play, and the
gay world were flocking away. Underneath
the heavy-leaved trees was the vacant band-

88 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

stand, surrounded by large plots of shrubs and
flowers ; but most of the smaller plants were in
pots, and although they were well arranged,
to my unaccustomed eyes the effect was un-
satisfactory, the absence of turf being a great
drawback. Nothing could be more delightful
than the situation of these gardens, placed upon
a high cliff, along the brink of which ran a broad
terrace, with stone balustrades and seats, which
overhung the wide, swift river Miila, with its
bridge of many arches, and the bund, or embank-
ment, by which it is protected. Low hills, clothed
with wood, sank into the water on the opposite
side of the stream. It was a scene of peaceful
beauty, which [our weary eyes thoroughly en-
joyed. It suddenly became quite dark. There
are no "violet Summers' eves'' in India, and
we had some difficulty in threading our way to
the carriage. There was a bright light upon a
near hill-side, which we took to be a burning
cottage, but it proceeded from a pile of wood,
which at certain times is kindled, in order to
light the descent to the mouth of a cave in
which there lives a very holy ascetic. This
was not the only blaze on the surrounding
heights; flickering flames ran along the ground.
It was the season for firing the thick scrub, in
order to get rid of the dried vegetation before

BULLOCK CARTS. 89

the rains. There being no moon, we saw the
full effect of the red forks of flame which shot up,
casting a lurid glow around. It was a curious

sight ; but until G remembered that it was

the evening of a great Hindoo festival, we
were puzzled to account for a stationary line
of brilliant light which streaked the side
of a conical hill at no great distance. It
was the celebrated place of pilgrimage, the
mount and temples of Parvati, which were thus
illuminated. Later in the evening we sat upon
the house-top, and watched the clustered lamps
which marked out the steep flights of steps
leading to the shrines ; and when we went to
bed they were still shining in all their beauty.

The following day was a busy one. There
arrived five bullock carts, which were to convey
our baggage (in Indian parlance, kit) to Bel-
gaum. They were to travel at night, and catch
us up on the third and fifth day of our passage.
The bullocks were handsome creatures, with
calm eyes, creamy white coats, hanging dew-
laps, and great crescent-shaped horns tipped
with ornamental brass work. I was sorry for
the poor patient beasts, who had to bear so
heavy a yoke, and be driven with a line passed
through the nostril. The dogs (the great twin
brothers), and Dick's goats, shared a vehicle

90 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

which had a cover to it. Spread out ready to
be packed was the batterie de cuisine, which

G had bought in Bombay. It consisted of

imposing-looking vessels of solid copper, with
rough-hewn exteriors. I especially admired
some which were very bulky, with sloping
shoulders and broad rims. One pot was such a
monster that I was puzzled as to its probable
use. Three rounds of beef could have been boil-
ed in it without jostling one another. " What
on earth is that for %" I demanded, pointing to
it. " That," said M., in her decisive way —
" that is my oven." Calmly surveying the
scene from the roof, where he was perched, was
a large, glossy brown scavenger-hawk, who at
intervals gave forth a shrill, quivering, mournful
cry. This evening, to my great satisfaction,
we set out on our drive before the sun was
down.

I was disappointed with the European part
of Poonah, having expected to see a handsome
town — a small Bombay — instead of which
nothing was to be seen but small bungalows,
widely separated, and surrounded by ragged
shrubberies and dried-up gardens. After the
rains, they would probably look very different.
The native town, which keeps strictly to itself,
was nearly two miles from our starting-point.

POONAH. 91

Fifty years ago it was the very Paradise of
priests. A writer of that day speaks of having
seen eighty thousand Brahmans assembled there
at one time.

We drove to the fort, which stands in the
centre of the town. The entrance is exceedingly
fine, consisting of a lofty, towering archway,
surmounted by a small iron balcony, from
whence the Peishwas used to review their
troops, and on certain occasions exhibit them-
selves in all their splendour to the people. The
arch is set in a broad frame, which is frescoed
over with lotus leaves and blossoms upon a
cream-coloured ground, the colours well pre-
served. On each side is a massive round tower,
pierced with numerous embrasures for guns of
small calibre. The iron doors which closed the
archway were barbarously magnificent, and
told of days long since numbered with the past.-
In parts they bristled with deep rows of sharp
spikes, more than a foot in length, so placed
in order to prevent the elephants from battering
them in. We were admitted into the interior by
a door cut through the superior one ; it was so
small that we had to double ourselves up in
order to pass through it. The fort is now a
mere shell, but the lofty walls are perfect, and
enclose a considerable space of ground. The

92 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

only chambers which remain are those above
the gateway. These small-windowed rooms
were in 1773 the scene of a tragic event— the
murder of Narayan Rao. He was only eigh-
teen, and had been but nine months Peishwa.
The unfortunate youth had confined his uncle
in an apartment in the palace. The uncle had
been able to bribe two of his guards to seize
the young Peishwa, and thus bring about his
own release ; but his vindictive wife secretly
changed the word from seize to kill. (If East-
ern women are celebrated, it is always for
evil, and never for good.) The assassins stabbed
the young Peishwa, killing at the same time a
faithful servant, who had thrown himself upon
his body. A terrace runs along the old gate-
way, to which a still more mournful interest
attaches. It was the favourite walk of another
young Peishwa, Mahadeo Rao, who, at the close
of the last century, threw himself down from
it, dying two days after from the injuries he
received. It happened during one of the great
national Mahratta festivals, which was being
conducted with unusual splendour. The young
Peishwa had received his great chiefs, and the
ambassadors of foreign countries ; he had shown
himself to his troops, who had passed before
him thousands strong ; but the restraints im-

THE FORT. 93

posed upon him by his tyrannical minister, the
celebrated Nana Farnavis, had so wounded his
pride that he destroyed himself. Snch stories
have little interest for those who have not
visited the spot, but they are full of significance
with regard to the manners of the period in
which such horrors could take place with im-
punity. There is not one of these Eastern
strongholds that has not been drenched in
blood.

We crossed the great enclosure, solitary now
save for the presence of a few soldiers at drill,
and half-a-dozen white-robed individuals, who
were amusing themselves in an inoffensive man-
ner by accompanying us to the castle gardens,
which are still kept up in a lazy Oriental
fashion. There were the trees under which the
Peishwas had sat and hatched dark plots, the
tanks in which they had disported themselves,
and the wells from Avhich they had drunk, now
green with beautiful black-stemmed giant
maidenhair, some sprigs of which we gathered
to send home. As we were leaving the fort,
our Hindoo followers, who had lingered behind,
came up, and gracefully presented each of us
with a little prim nosegay of roses and pinks,

for which attention Gr thanked them in

their own language, and they continued to

94 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

salaam until we were out of sight. Close to
the fort is a narrow street, in which, under the
Peishwas, offenders were executed by being-
trampled to death by elephants, an admirable
mode of disposing of an enemy, as it combined
vengeance with amusement. One of the Holkar
family was put to death in this cruel manner
whilst the last of the Peishwas sat at his win-
dow and gloated over the agonies of his vic-
tim ; but that very same year his brother, Rcio
Holkar, was splendidly revenged by winning
the battle of Poonah.

The town is full of curious old houses, the ex-
terior gal leries'of which have shutters and frames
for lattices, finely carved ; and there we saw
Saracenic arches, of horse-shoe form. These
were supported by wooden pillars richly carved
with figures and foliage. These old houses
were once the residences of great ministers and
■court favourites. We alighted, and stepped
into the court of that which had belonged
to Nana Farnavis. It was a mouldy place,
with broken fountains and dry tanks ; the
rooms were small and dismal, and the narrow
passages quite dark. A large house was point-
ed out to us as having been, at the end of the
last century, the dwelling of a most extraordi-
nary character — a Avoman, Spanish by birth, but

JAMEL SERDAR. 95

an English subject, being the wife of a Mr.
James Hall, a respectable barrister in Madras,
from whom she was separated. She sought her
fortune in the military service of the native
princes. Her active career was, however, cut
short, in consequence of her having caused the
death, by beating, of a thievish Brahman who
was attached to her household. For this grave
offence, which would have entailed capital
punishment had she been a native, she was for
many years confined in a hill fort near Poonah.
The military name assumed by this heroine was
Jamel Serdar (Elegant Lord, or Elegant Com-
mander). Her dress at Poonah was of a very
manlike stamp, although still not entirely mas-
culine. In Mogul style, she wore a flowing
robe and loose trousers ; an enormous sabre and
a plumed helmet graced the well-formed person
of this daring Amazon. "I have heard,"
says Mr. Moor, " that she was offered the com-
mand of the battalion of women that the Nizam
Ally Khan raised for the interior duties of the
Mahl, or ladies' apartments, or what we call the
Seraglio. The battalion consisted of five or
six hundred women, regularly dressed and
disciplined, commanded by officers of their own
sex. Armed with light fusees, they mounted
guard regularly over the ladies' apartments, and

96 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

the vicinity of them, and are described as, on
the whole, a very well set-up corps. It actually
took the field when the Nizam waged the dis-
graceful war of 1793 against the Poonah
Government."

The streets of Poonah are very striking to
strangers; the exteriors of many of the houses are
brilliantly painted with figures of gods and god-
desses. Idols squatted under the peepul-trees.
The very streets were named after mythological
personages, and an endless stream of strange-
looking people flowed up and down. The
whole population of the place appeared to have
turned out to breathe at ease once more after the
sultry day. In the outskirts of the town stands
a large Jaina temple, enclosed by walls, on
which a whole pantheon of deities were dis-
porting themselves. No Christian is allowed to
enter its sacred precincts, but a door happened
to be ajar, and as there was no one to interfere
with us, we gazed unchecked into the sacred
pile. It was profusely painted in rich dark
colours, and bore no little resemblance to a
Tartar building. Colonnades lined the oblong
court, and there was a tank shaded by a ban-
yan-tree. Poonah is the head-quarters of the
once numerous Jain sect. I believe that years
ago Lady Falkland visited the interior of this

THE LIONS5 DEN. 97

temple, and gives a description of it in a book
called " Chow-Chow ;" but I have not been able
to meet with it.

I was early on the terrace roof next morning,
being anxious to obtain a good view of Sin-
ghar, before the air became dense with heat. It
is one of the most renowned fortresses in all
Mahratta. It is situated upon a conical hill,
which appears to be perfectly isolated, but is,
in fact, joined, by a narrow neck, to the great
Schyadri Ghats. It stands four thousand one
hundred and sixty-two feet above the level of
the sea. Its craggy triangular plateau, high
walls, and strong towers, were so clearly de-
fined against the pale green sky that I could
scarcely believe that " The Lions' Den " was
eleven miles away. It is, indeed, even in decay,
a magnificent stronghold. In olden times, safe
in its lonely strength and terrible precipices, no
one thought of being surprised in it. Sur-
prised, however, it was by one of Sevaji's
heroic generals, on a starless night, the ninth
night of the dark half of the moon, in the
month of October. Three hundred Mahrattas
escaladed its. steepest point, and silently entered
the fort. A desperate conflict ensued. " Har !
Ear ! Maha Deo !" was the cry of the invaders.
Not a man of the garrison submitted, and day-

VOL. I. H

98 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

light found five hundred gallant fellows dead or
dying, several hundreds having chosen the
almost desperate alternative of venturing over
the rock, and many were dashed to pieces in
the attempt. The leader of the assault, Sevaji's
favourite general, was killed, and upon hearing
of the misfortune, his master is said to have
exclaimed, " Alas ! alas ! the den is taken, but
the lion is slain ! We have gained a fort, but I
have lost Tanaji Malusre !" Upon this occasion
each private soldier was rewarded by the gift
of a solid silver bangle.

99

CHAPTER V.

Travelling Arrangements in India— The Southern Cross—
The Travellers' Bungalow — Fakirs — Noble Banyan
Tree— Fishing in India — The Singadari— Orthography
of Indian Proper Names — Climate of Western India —
Ascent of the Kamski Ghat— The Magellanic Clouds
— Crossing the Koo-i-nor — Arrival at Sattara— Ruins
of the Fort — Labyrinths and Dungeons — Palace of the
Rajah.

IT was nearly five o'clock when we started on
our journey. I was all impatience to be
off, to see two hundred and twenty miles of
Indian country, with its strange people, native
towns, rural villages, and temples. To me
every bush by the roadside was a source of in-
terest, because it grew in a quarter of the
world which my mind had been accustomed to
dwell upon as a far-away mystery. Our mode
of progression was by no means romantic. We
rolled along in a couple of very comfortable
britskas, drawn by horses, or tattoos (the
native pony), as the case might be. The three
grown-up people, and Mr. Bustle, occupied one

h2

100 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

interior, the nurses and children rilled the other ;
and on the box of each carriage a man-servant
sat by the side of the driver, one being the cook, a
very important person in Indian travel. In addi-
tion, each carriage was provided with a scantily-
clad individual, who, smothered in dust, perched
as he could upon the piles of bags and boxes
strapped on behind. But appearances are de-
ceitful, for with the exception of G , who

held the money-bags, he was out-and-out the
most important personage of the party — he
was the steersman. The coachman, whom I
have mis-named the driver, held the reins, but
the guard directed the horses whenever there
was a difficulty. If we were likely to go over
the side of the road, which on the level was
frequently banked up, to get into a ditch, or to
meet a cart, or if the Deccan ponies gibbed or
ran away, an amusement to which they were
equally addicted, this person was, or ought to
be, at their heads in a moment. About every
second port (a port being in general seven
miles) the guard was changed. Some of these
men were vigilant, others were sleepy, and
once we had an unfortunate who was afflicted
with leprosy, which was not pleasant, as he sat
upon the luggage.

We were soon out of English Poonah, and

DEPARTURE FROM POONAH. 101

passing under the sacred hill of Parvati. The
white temples upon its summit were flushed
with rose colour, the ruined palace was bathed
in light, and the glass still remaining in the
horse-shoe window, from whence the last of the
Peishwas beheld the total rout of his large army
by a comparatively small English force, flashed
in the rays of the setting sun. Even stern,
black Singhar had caught the glow, and was
dyed in glorious purple light. Our road lay
across a tolerably fertile plain, bounded by the
great ghat we were about to cross. It was
nearly dark when we began to ascend. Our
doors would fly open, and had to be secured by
ropes ; the wheels were very ricketty, and
nothing would induce the candles to burn. Dick
roared, so the hurricane-lamp was lit, and hung
in the second carriage. There was no moon,
but the night was clear and light. The road,
which was excellent, was perpetually winding
round sharp spurs of rock ; and although every
really dangerous part was protected by a sub-
stantial two feet wall, still, when one looked
over it, and glanced down, far down, into the
deep black gorges, the sight was enough to
make one shudder. Many a camp-fire blazed
upon the plain of Poonah, shining out at first
large and brilliant, but waning as we mounted

102 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

higher and higher, until at last they appeared
as mere specks of red light, which finally van-
ished. Near the top of the ghat we passed
through a long tunnel, with rows of lamps along-
each side. The ribbed brickwork with which
it was lined was admirable, and, as far as we
could judge, appeared to be the very perfection
of masonry. We had climbed to another level
of the Deccan, and had no descent to encounter.
The horses were changed in the most leisurely
fashion. The pauses were not unpleasant, as
we generally walked about the while, and
watched many a novel scene. Rows of patient
horses stood in long open sheds. Dim lights
flitted to and fro, glimmering upon big tur-
baned and ebony men ; and when the harness-
ing really began, a great bundle of some dried
thorn was cast down and kindled. Instead of
blazing up, it gave forth a glowing light, beauti-
ful as a fire-work. The rest of our night's
work lay under vaulted avenues of large-limbed
trees, with heavy foliage, which showered down
sweet blossoms upon our heads. We came to
no harm, although they were mango flowers,
which play a great part in Hindoo mythology.
The mango flower is sacred to the God Kama,
the Indian Cupid. He is supposed to be armed
with a bow of sugar cane, the string of which

THE TRAVELLERS' BUNGALOW. 103

consists of bees, and be bears five arrows, each
tipped with the blossom of a flower, which
pierce the heart through the five senses. His
favourite weapon is that pointed by the mango
flower. The beautiful double white jessamine,
used at religious ceremonies, wreathes itself
round this favoured tree, and is called " The
Bride of the Mango." Here and there a giant
limb had paid the debt of Nature, and through
the space left open by its fall the extreme gran-
deur of the moonless sky became visible. The
stars were wonderfully large and luminous, and
shone with a calm, steady light. In the latitude
in which we were now travelling, the twinkling
effect observable in Europe is seldom seen.

We were a silent party, each thinking his
own thoughts ; and as I gazed upon that
grandest of constellations, the Southern Cross,
I for the first time realised that I was in the
East. My somewhat solemn reverie terminated
abruptly, when we turned down a narrow lane,
and drew up before the travellers' bungalow, with
the exciting reflection — what was to become
of us if it was full 1 But, by a happy chance,
three rooms were vacant ; and our arrangements
being quickly made, the supper we had brought
with us was soon spread and demolished, and
thankfully we sought repose upon the broad

104 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

sofas, which, though not furnished with bedding,
were capable of being made very comfortable.
I was awake with the birds, which were

twittering away at a great rate. G had

promised me a walk, in which we were to see a
fine banyan-tree, populated by monkeys. In the
verandah we paused for a moment to take a
preliminary cup of tea, and look at the land-
scape before us, which was very pretty, with
green hedges and fields, and far-stretching
mango woods, lit up with such light-tinted
blossoms as those whose influence we had
escaped the previous night. The branching
trees concealed the broad river which flowed at
their feet, but not the bright brown line of
hill which extended further away. We wended
our way through the single long street of the
little town, which we considered just too large

to be called a village. G pronounced it

to be exceptionally clean. To my unaccustomed
eye there was much in its aspect that was
strange and picturesque. Groups of dark people
were squatted in the open huts, for they were
little more, with possibly a dark chamber in their
rear. Strange little altars, ornamented with
rough patterns in red and yellow, were scattered
about. There was a lofty tree, a sacred peepul-
tree, with a wide circular ring of masonry

A DISAPPOINTMENT. 105

around it, and a large, rough, red-smeared
stone, with a wreath of flowers twined round
it. Strange men — Fakirs — with plaited petti-
coats, and great fans of palm leaves, were
loitering about, and no doubt extracting money
from the pockets of the poor. To me all was
new and interesting.

We took a country path, which brought us to
the banyan, a noble tree, with a deeply-in-
dented bole — in fact, a collection of boles grown
together in all directions ; brown tendrils were
hanging down, anxious to root themselves, and
spring forth in independent beauty. The leaf
of this tree is large, a fine deep green, and very
glossy ; and the shade it casts is profound. The
brightest sunbeam cannot penetrate through
the dense foliage. But where were the mon-
keys ? — we looked in vain, but not one was
visible. It was no unusual disappointment — in
other countries, at Gibraltar, in the glen of the
ChifFa, and in Kabylia, I had been promised a
similar spectacle, but with the same result. We
pursued our way along the broken ground,
which rose a few feet above the river Nera, a
broad, swift, and by no means muddy stream,

which caused G to sigh as the fish rose to

the surface and spread circles in the water.*

* 1 believe the following remarks as to fishing in India

10(3 MY "SEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

Half a mile brought us to a pretty range of
rock, green with many an unknown plant and
flowering shrub. A lively little stream came
tumbling over the boulder stones. It might have
been a Yorkshire beck ; but looking down upon
it, instead of a spired church, there stood a
Hindoo temple, with a pyramidal roof, which
we climbed up to explore. It was a rude,
square edifice, lighted from the doorless en-
trance. A conical stone, " the Singa/' occupied a
low platform in the centre. An intelligent-

to be true : — " If one only knows where to look for it, there
is certainly as good fishing to be got in India as in any
other country in the world. We once knew a brave old
gentleman in Northern India — who, by the way, used to
fish from an elephant — that pronounced India to be the
great fishing country — not altogether without reason, we
think. A writer in the Field, of October 9, 1869, speaks
of catching seven hundred and one pounds in five days with
the rod, in the Punjab ; and in one day he landed three
hundred and thirty- eight pounds. The river was the
Punah, an affluent of the Jhilam, that rises in the Pir-Pan-
jal. This river, which is about a hundred and twenty
miles in length, is about the breadth of the Tweed at Cold-
stream ; but the pools are deeper and the current more rapid.
The Mahsir, or Indian salmon, is the fish that affords the
best sport in this, as in every other river of India. It is a
grand carp that attains a weight of seventy pounds and
upwards, and affords more play to the angler, and as dainty
a dish to the gourmet, as the Spey or Ness salmon. The
Mahsir is often fished with a fly." — Times of India Hand-
book of Hindustan, p. 108.

THE SINGADARI. 107

looking young man, who, with the simple curi-
osity characteristic of Eastern manners, had
followed us, said that it was not a real Singa
— I suppose that meant a Singa not properly
consecrated — adding, "that he, being a Ma-
homedan, thought it very strange that men
should worship a stone." I ventured to remark,

through Gf , that some few did but regard it

as a symbol, upon which he shook his head and
fell back.

The Singadari are a distinct and very large-
sect of people, who are exceedingly stern and
opinionated. They will not eat what has been
cooked by a Brahman, and differ in their reli-
gious tenets, denying the doctrine of Metem-
psychosis, rejecting caste, and leaving in abey-
ance some domestic observances which are
rigidly practised by other Hindoos. Professor
Wilson believes the Singa to be the most
ancient object of worship adopted in India,
subsequently to the ritual of the Vedas, which
was chiefly, if not wholly, addressed to the
elements, and particularly fine. The Singadari
do not in general burn their dead. They pre-
fer burying them, and that in a sitting posture.
A man of this sect is at once recognised by the
silver box he carries at his side, containing the
emblem of his faith, if not by a little silver

108 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

relic-box, hung to a necklace of beads or ber-
ries. The very poor wear a stone wrapped up
in a bit'of cloth, suspended from the neck by a
string. .

On a ledge of rock close to the temple were
ranged three colossal horses' heads, fairly carved
in wood, and painted in glowing colours, the

meaning of which I eagerly demanded. G

was puzzled, and referred to our self-constituted
guide, who informed us that they were orna-
ments, the prows of old barges which had glided
for many a day up and down the placid river
at our feet. The Nera is a charming stream,
smooth and clear for many months of the year,
but during the Monsoon it swells into a devas-
tating muddy torrent. The short green herb-
age was stained with dark spots, which told
the sad tale that it was the burning Ghat, the
plateau from whence the charred bones of many
"a rude forefather of the hamlet" had been
cast into the purifying waters below. A few
tombs were dotted about, mere steps of stone,
with a pillar in the centre, memorials of those
whose bodies had suffered cremation there, tri-
butes from the living, which must soon lose
their significance, for upon such stones no name
is ever recorded.

Having nothing particular to do during the

THE TRAVELLERS' BUNGALOW. 109

heat of the day, I investigated the travellers
bungalow. Small things interested me greatly,
for they were now imbued with all the charm
of novelty. It was a low bungalow, consisting
of a ground-floor placed upon a raised platform,
encircled by a wide verandah, completely shaded
by the overhanging eaves and lattice work, in
and out of which twined creeping plants. I
was charmed to find a small self-sown sensitive
plant, which I experimented upon to my
heart's content. The interior of the bungalow
consisted of three long rooms, scantily furnished,
a table, a few chairs, a wide cane sofa, to serve
as a bed, and, perhaps, some rough shelves,
suspended from the white-washed wall, and a
skeleton frame, intended to receive the metal
basin, which the traveller is expected to supply,
as well as a looking-glass, should he consider
such an article necessary. To each chamber
was attached a bath-room, lighted in a Saracenic
fashion, open spaces being filled in by tubular
tiles split in half, and placed in rows one above
the other, forming a very effective pattern. If
the road be much frequented, a messman is
attached to the bungalow, whose duty it is to
provide a simple meal if demanded, as also to lend
linen and couverts, as our French friends would
say. It sometimes happens, however, that no

110 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

messman is at hand, and that nothing edible
can be procured, in which case the wary tra-
veller generally takes care to be provided
beforehand with tinned provisions, biscuits, and
liquor, as a stock to draw upon. Water is an
extra charge. Chambers cannot be occupied as
a matter of right for more than three days, after
which time the accommodation can be claimed
by other people. On leaving, each person pays
a shilling for the accommodation he has received
during twenty-four hours' halt. Thesebuugalows
are generally placed at a little distance from a
town, and are now in much greater request
than formerly, the extravagant hospitality of
olden days having much declined. They are
surrounded by a couple of acres of ground, on
which the offices are placed. In India, the
kitchen is invariably some distance from the
house, as the odour of cooking would be intol-
erable in so hot a climate, and meals are in
consequence served upon hot-water plates.

Nothing to the stranger is more puzzling than
the orthography of Indian proper names, which
are too often rendered according to fancy on
maps, in books, at the post-office, and by the
friend whose aid you seek in a dilemma. At
our first halting-place I experienced my first
difficulty, in consequence of being unable to

THE BOY AND THE BABY. Ill

determine whether it was called Sherwan, or
Sherwell, or Sirwull, or any other similar varia-
tion that inquirers chose to put upon the sound
with which their demands for information were
answered. Some of the most accurate maps
give the names of towns twice over, printed
one above the other. This incongruity will,
however, in time be remedied, for it has oc-
casioned so much confusion in Government
offices, that a book is about to be issued, and
forwarded to all officials, giving the names of
places according to a uniform rule — a measure
which will be productive of great comfort to
those who, like myself, find Hindustani words,
of every kind and class, a perpetual stumbling-
block.

I was sitting in the verandah, when a boy
came up, carrying a little copper-coloured child,
with great eyes, and a wild expression of coun-
tenance— altogether, such an uncanny-looking
thing that I stretched out my hand to touch
it, to see if it really was a baby. Away flew
the boy on the instant to what he considered
a safe distance, when he turned at bay, ready
for another start if he found himself pursued.
I mentioned the circumstance to M., who
replied, " Of course he ran away, for in his
opinion your touch would have polluted the

112 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

child. Don't you know that the first rising in
the Mutiny was occasioned by a clergyman who
put his hand upon the head of a little Hindoo
child?" — a fact of which I very humbly pro-
fessed my ignorance. I was much rejoiced when
long shadows began to fall, and I saw signs
of packing, a task which was soon accomplished,
for it is one at which Hindoo servants are very
expert.

Like the camel driver in the song, " we had
many a mile to go," — forty, I believe, before we
should be entitled to the supper and beds which
awaited us at Sattara, and we consequently set
off on our journey earlier than usual. The
evening was beautiful, and we looked forward
with confidence to the continuance of such de-
lightful weather — a confidence which is one of
the most pleasant features in the climate of
India. One knows with certainty that for
months together, for so many hours of the day,
the wind will blow from east to west over the
heated plain, followed by the blessed change
which is produced by a cool breeze setting in
from the Indian Ocean. In making so compre-
hensive an observation, I am aware that I am
falling into a somewhat loose manner of speak-
ing, for there are as many different climates,
customs, and races in the 1,287,483 square

OBSTINATE TATTOOS. 113

miles of its vast territory as in the whole of
Europe. The term, as used by me, refers to
Western India, the only part of the Peninsula
with which I have at present a personal ac-
quaintance.

Before reaching that shelf of the Deccan in
which Sattara is situated, we had to ascend the
Kamski Ghat, which is exceedingly steep. We
changed horses at the foot of the pass, and
unfortunately got tattoos, which were ad-
dicted to jibbing. Although at first the ascent
was easy, unless backwards, the brutes again
and again refused to go forward, and more

than once came to a perfect standstill. G

and the other men, along with volunteers col-
lected on the road, had, after each pause, to
start the vehicle by main force. If at last the
ponies moved in the right direction, well and

good, G vaulted into the carriage and on

we went. If they did not, or there was a con-
siderable drop on one side, M. had to scramble
out over the closed door, with her carriage cloak
in her hand, whilst I followed with Bustle
under my arm. I saw with satisfaction that,
however badly the horses behaved, they were
never flogged. Their only punishment was that
of being scolded in torrents of the harshest
Mahratta. The brutes at last gave up all idea

VOL. I. 1

114 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

of the stable they had quitted, and then, begin-
ning to turn their minds to the stable that was
to come, went on, not, however, without con-
tinuing to indulge in some ebullitions of temper.
As the road grew steeper and steeper, their
pranks became dangerous, and we agreed that
it would be best to get out and walk to the top
of the ghat. The black gulfs below were pro-
foundly deep, and the mountain spurs were
rugged and abrupt ; while our road was but a
blasted path cut out of the crags. The night
was very dark, and as the crescent moon had
vanished long ago, we saw that beautiful ap-
pearance, the Magellanic Clouds, to great ad-
vantage ; and the Milky Way — " the Great
Eiver/' as the Arabs call it — was singularly
bright. Still there was not sufficient light to
make the road we traversed visible, and one of
our men — Moideen (the Light of Keligion) —
alas ! a perfect scamp — was obliged to guide
us with the hurricane lamp. As we marched
along in single file, the effect of our gigantic
shadows thrown upon the smooth surface of the
rock was exceedingly droll — M. and I, with our
pointed hats, resembling nothing so much as a
couple of witches on their way to a Sabbath
meeting ; G a burly giant ; Bustle a bull-
dog on stilts ; and the Light of Religion a stick

CROSSING THE KOO-I-NOR. 115

with a turban stuck upon it. If any poor super-
stitious Hindoo caught sight of the shadowy
procession without hearing our voices, he must
have been sadly frightened. When we reached
the post-house at the top of the mountain, we
were quite tired, and continued to be for some
time very anxious. We looked into the black
night, and neither saw nor heard anything of
the second carriage, concealed as it was by the
abrupt turns in the road, until it was close upon
us. We were thankful that we had no descent
to encounter.

One more trial awaited us, as we had to cross
the Koo-i-nor, close to its junction with the
sacred Krishna. During the rains the Koo-i-
nor is an impetuous roaring torrent, the terror
of the mail-cart. In dry weather it retreats into
its deep bed, leaving its broken cliffs and muddy
strand exposed. Bridge after bridge has been
built and washed away, consequently it has
either to be forded or crossed in a ferry-boat.
The easiest time for crossing it is when the
passage is made at full flood, the water then
rising level with the steep banks. The most
difficult is when the river is neither high nor
low, for then there is no secure landing for the

carriages ferried across the stream. G

grew anxious as we approached the steep, tor-

i2

116 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

tuous declivity, especially as it was very dark ;
and when the light we carried for a moment
pierced the clouds of dust we raised, it disclosed
a cliff with a crumbling brink, a precipitous
descent, with no protection whatever. I believe
that we owed our safety to the rush the horses
made into the river, which they gained with
a splash and a thud. M. grasped her cloak, I
hugged my dog, and with the hands which
were at liberty we clung to the vehicle, fully
prepared for a ducking. The carriages rocked
and bumped, but there were numbers of men at
hand ready to steady them. The plunging of
the struggling tattoos, the dancing lights, the
momentary glimpses of the rushing river, the
noise and shouting of the men, made it a scene
of some variety, and of indescribable confusion.
Not the least part of the difficulty lay in the
steep gully the panting horses had to climb
when the opposite side was reached. Half
dragged by them, half pushed along through
the pulverized mud, we did at last reach the
level road. After we had arranged the car-
riage, we walked about to compose ourselves.
The delay was tedious, but unavoidable, for an
important package had slipped from its ropes,
and was missing. At last, however, it was
found, half buried in the dust of the opposite

SATTARA. 117

bank, and once more it was in our power to
proceed. Having seated ourselves, the horn
was blown, and the horses started, but, alas !
mistook their direction, and wheeling round,
made a rush down the steep track by which we
had mounted. Their heads were seized, they
were steadied for a moment, and once more we
were compelled to lay hold of our precious pos-
sessions, and jump out. How the carriage was
turned without being upset, I cannot say, but
our unfortunate cook had his foot a good deal
crushed. It was two o'clock in the morning
before we reached our destination. I shall ever
remember the river which flows from those
mountains of light, the Koo-i-nor Hills.

When I awoke in the morning, I could
scarcely believe that I was in Sattara, Sattara
— I loved to caress the musical name, which
sounded like that of an old friend, for there had
M/s year of Indian life been spent. In my far-
away home hung a view of it, taken upon the
spot. Many a time had I gazed at it with a
yearning feeling, and now the reality was before
my eyes. There, not a mile away, was the
isolated mountain, with its craggy sides, ancient
walls, and perpendicular precipices. It made
me shudder to look at the narrow, tortuous
ledge up which she had so often ridden her

118 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

much-prized thorough-bred Deccan pony, laugh-
ingly declaring that his legs were much safer
than her own. The grim battlements, even in
clear early light, could scarcely be distinguished
from the rock itself ; still I could discern three
out of the seven round towers from which the
fort derives its poetical designation.

Sattara is a corruption of Sath-Istara — that
is, the Seven Stars, or Pleiades. No fortress in
all Mahratta has been more connected with the
historical events of many centuries, and its
Rajahs were among the most powerful of the
Deccan princes. An ancient copper-plate, with
an inscription, shows that it was founded in the
year 1192. In due time it fell under the do-
minion of the Mahomedan kings, who reigned
at Bejipur ; but in 1673, after a protracted
siege, it was captured by the great Sevaji, and
afterwards, with its town, became the capital
of the Mahratta Government. Six years after-
wards, it was besieged by the Monguls, two
thousand of whom perished by the inopportune
explosion of one of their own mines. How the
rocky mountain must have trembled ! For
hundreds of years was this spot dyed in blood,
and over the perpendicular scarp, which I saw
cutting the blue sky with so sharp an edge,
thousands of victims had been hurled. Now

THE FORT. 119

the Seven Stars are ruined, the English having
effected in an hour what neither time nor the
enemy could accomplish. Its fate has been
that of many a mountain eyrie. Its defences
were blown into fragments by gunpowder — no
unnecessary proceeding after the Mutiny, it
being judged that, in case of another rising, the
existence of these strongholds might be exceed-
ingly dangerous.

M. and her husband, along with a friend,
once spent a week in the fortress, choosing for
their abode in it a very long room, probably
the old banqueting-hall, which had been spared.
Down the middle of this apartment ran a long
line of pillars, connected with one another by
light arches, made of hard dark wood, and
beautifully carved. They brought up to it
camp furniture, and partitioning off a room at
each end, enjoyed themselves exceedingly. M.
spent great part of her time in sketching, draw-
ing the gateway, with the two fish, the emblem
of nobility, carved above it, and the ruined
temples. (There were originally sixteen of
them, eleven of which were dedicated to Shiva,
whose worship was that of a stern religion, and
five to the cruel Bavane.) Only one of the
number remains perfect, with a gilded image
of the bloodthirsty divinity in a squatting pos-

]20 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

ture. Nor did M. neglect the old tanks, and
the fern-covered wells. Under the fort laby-
rinths of narrow ways lead to the dungeons —
dark holes hewn from the hard-hearted black
rock. What sufferings must have been endured
in the bowels of this hill, outwardly so sunny
and so free ! There are also secret passages,
by which access to the open country is obtain-
ed. These were constructed to afford means of
escape in times of peril.

One of the legends attached to the place, al-
though very horrible, is thought not unlikely to
be true. It is said that when the fort was built
a youth and a maiden were buried alive under
the principal entrance. A circumstance which
may not be improbable, when we remember that
in many parts of India a belief in the efficacy of
human sacrifice still lingers, and that this horri-
ble practice is still perpetrated among the wild
hill tribes, who have never yet been conquered
by the Aryan race. The Mahrs, the supposed
aborigines of the country, who still exist in the
town of Sattara, at certain seasons of the year
ascend to the fort in their gala dresses, and in
a very cruel manner (too cruel to relate) sacri-
fice a buffalo in front of the temple.*

* Many of the Hindoo temples are small. It is con-
sidered sufficient if they are large enough to contain the
idol, the officiating priest, and the sacrificial instruments.

AMBALI. 121

The fort commands a beautiful view over a
fertile plain, completely surrounded by hills of
every varying form, swelling into mountains
towards the west. Among the blue plateaus and
peaks the lofty Ambali is a prominent object, a
hill which, according to Hindoo mythology, was
a pebble which slipped from a mountain that
Hanuman (the monkey god) was carrying to
help in making a bridge from India to Ceylon,
in Rama's war with the monster-headed king of
the island.

122

CHAPTER VI.

Re-engagement of an Old Servant — The Old Palace —
Eelics of Sevaji — Tale of Indian Treachery — The
Combat with Claws — Junction of the Krishna
and the Zena — The Parsee Tower of Silence —
Religious Ideas and Symbols of the Hindoos — Festival
in Honour of Shiva — Hindoo Sects — Turbans — The
Savi — Condition of Hindoo Women — Ornaments —
Returning from the Fair — Sattara Monkeys — A Jaina
Temple — The Burning Ghat.

IN consequence of its mountainous ring we
found Sattara so hot that it was impossible
to venture out until the evening breeze set in,
when we took chairs and sat under the coolest
verandah. Numbers of scavenger eaglets were
swooping about, to the terror of the clucking
hens, who, the moment these birds appeared,
collected their broods and hid themselves.

Meanwhile, M. was surrounded by old ser-
vants, some of whom had come to make their
salaams, others in the hope of re-entering her
service. One of them, an old man, she declared
that she had never seen so amply clad. In

AN OLD SERVANT. 123

order to present himself he had borrowed a
cumlie, a narrow woollen blanket, sewed to-
gether, and put over the head, in which he was
wrapped up, in spite of the ninety-two degrees of
heat. M. had employed him in the capacity
of carrier. She had a partiality for strawberries,
a luxury not to be procured nearer than Maha-
baleshwar, which, by the hill paths, was thirty
miles off. There and back, twice every week,
did the " old man" trot (he was probably under
forty), returning with baskets of rosy fruit,
and considered himself well paid in receiving ten
shillings a month, that is two and. sixpence for
every journey of one hundred and twenty miles.
After a little conversation, it was agreed that he
should return to the service of his old mistress,
not as strawberry-carrier, but to look after the
dogs and poultry. But before he could leave
►Sattara, his affairs had to be arranged, as he
was in debt, owing no less than seven shillings.
He accordingly received a small sum of money
in advance, with which he trotted off to Belgaum
at once with a beaming countenance. The
transaction took place in the Mahratta language,
which I thought sounded very harsh.

Late in the afternoon Gr , who had been

occupied with his inspection all the morning,
returned with a carriage, and took me to see the

124 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

old palace. We drove through a wide street,
in which endless numbers of respectable-looking
people were taking the air, for by this time the
sea-breeze had set in. The men were habited
either in white, or partially enveloped in the
duthi, or waist-cloth — a long piece of yellow-
white cotton (the produce of a shrub which
attains the height of some six feet), which is
wround round the body, passed between the
legs, and tucked in, in some mysterious fashion.
The palace has, externally, only its size to recom-
mend it, but it stands advantageously on a large
open space, which had no doubt many a time
been filled with Sevaji's fierce mountaineers. A
few of the Rajah's soldiers were loitering under
the colonnades. Near the entrance door was a
large iron cage, which contained a panther,

which G pronounced to be a remarkably

fine animal. As we approached its cage, the
animal's fierce eyes lit up with an angry glow,
and it darted out its claw, hoping to catch

G , who stood unpleasantly near. This

greatly enraged Bustle, and it was fortunate that
I held him in a strong string, for our small cham-
pion made a rush towards the beast, and was
all anxiety to attack it. The natives who were
loitering around were much amused, and abso-
lutely laughed.

THE OLD PALACE. 125

We were received by a venerable-looking old
gentleman, who spoke English perfectly. He
at once conducted us into the vast audience-
hall, which occupied the centre of the building.
It was very lofty, supported on each side by
finely-carved wooden pillars, forming colon-
nades. The side walls were pierced by lofty
arches, now partially closed by lattice-work;
outside these now ran narrow tanks, with
water-works so arranged that on festive occa-
sions one tall feathery jet would shoot up in the
centre of each. Numberless lustres of various
sizes, wrapped up in red cotton bags, were sus-
pended from the ceiling of the hall. The effect
when they were brilliantly lit up must have been
very fine. The end of the saloon was occupied
by a large square erection — the shrine in which
the family deity was placed. All great Hindoo
families have their familiar god or goddess, to
whom they offer sacrifice, and look for protection.
The frame of the temple was made of wood, the
interior being hidden by hangings of the richest
brocaded satin. The old man drew aside the
curtains, and facing us, raised in a sitting
posture upon a throne, we beheld a large cross-
legged figure in silver — Sevaji's own Bhavani,
appropriate goddess for the ruthless chief of a
cruel age. She was represented with eight

12(3 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

arms. Her oblique eyes seemed to regard us
with sinister expression. She wore a nose-
ring, necklaces, bracelets, and anklets, and
had a conical head-dress. Her altar was dressed
with green velvet, magnificently embroidered in
gold.

In this sanctuary lay SevajTs sword, which
he called Bhavani, after his tutelar goddess, a
weapon which is now an object of worship.
Strewn about the dais were the sacrificial vessels
and instruments, consisting of dishes, lamps,
cups, bowls, animals bearing upon their backs
the lotus flower (probably for incense), and
other articles, the use of which I could not
divine. These various objects were in silver,
beautifully chased, and probably very old, for
in places the patterns were worn away. Paral-
lel with the banqueting hall were long courts,
surrounded by two-storied buildings, which had
once been the ladies' apartments. The latticed
window-sills of horse-shoe form, the balconies,
the projecting beams, were of dark wood, finely
carved with figures and foliage. These rooms
looked down on the hall, which on grand occa-
sions must have presented a charming coup oVceil.
We lingered about for some time waiting to see
the relics, and were invited to sit down upon a
comfortable sofa, our conductor taking a chair.

SEVAJl'S SWORD. 127

There was a great commotion at this end of
the hall. Men were running about with cur-
tains, and carpets, and wooden frames. A play
in the Mahratta tongue was about to take place.
Suddenly three or four dignified-looking gentle-
men made their appearance. Our guide arose,
we bowed, and the Hindoos, salaaming with
gravity and grace, passed on, and squatted
down in a corner. They were relatives of the
late Rani, and of the present occupant of the
palace, whose position is still under the con-
sideration of the English Government. The
Rajah of Sattara, who died in 1848, having no
son, immediately before his death adopted a boy,
a usual mode of proceeding under such circum-
stances. Lord Dalhousie, however, struck Sat-
tara out of the list of native states, bestowing
liberal pensions on the Rajah's widow and
adopted son.

At last the honoured relics made their ap-
pearance. The sword is a fine Ferrara blade,
four feet in length, with a spike upon the hilt
to thrust with. The hilt will only admit a very
small hand. It is a matter of surprise that so
small a man as Sevaji is said to have been could
have wielded such a weapon with the remark-
able skill which has passed into a proverb. His
precise stature is not known, but his weight is a

128 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

matter of history, one of his popular acts having
been that he was weighed against gold, and his
weight was found to be equal to that of sixteen
thousand pagodas (a gold coin so called from
its being marked with a pagoda), which is equal
to ten stone, the whole amount being distribut-
ed among Brahmans. The next object of inte-
rest was his quilted coat of peach-coloured satin,
made to pass the knees, and which contained
very fine chain armour ; this was matched by a
cap made with flaps, in order to protect the
head. The united weight of the cap and coat
was something amazing. This suit is said to
have been specially made in anticipation of an
approaching interview with his deadly enemy,
Afzool Khan, but it was probably the ordinary
array in which he went forth to the combat. The
Mahratta troops always wore quilted vests, an
excellent protection against sabre cuts, which we
read of both in Egyptian and Grecian warfare.
Last of all we were shown the wagnuks,
or tigers' claws, with which the western hero
is said to have torn open the stomach of
the envoy whom he went forth in amity to
meet. The story to which these relics bear
silent witness, is worth relating, in order to
show by what treacherous means the Indian
princes of the seventeenth century gained the

TREACHERY OF SEVAJI. 129

undying applause of their fierce countrymen.
We therefore extract the following passage
from Grant Duff's " History of the Mahrattas "— -
" The Mahomedan Afzool Khan was the am-
bassador of the Bijipur king, who ardently
desired the destruction of the powerful Sevaji.
He, however, diplomatically masked his hatred.
His enemy pursued a like line of conduct, and
it was arranged that an interview should take
place between the envoy and the Mahratta
prince. Sevaji prepared a place for the meeting
at the foot of the renowed fortress of Pertab-
gurh. He cut down the jungle and cleared a
road for the Khan's approach ; but every other
avenue to the spot was carefully closed. Fif-
teen hundred of Afzool Khan's troops accom-
panied him to within a few hundred yards of
Pertabgurh, where, for fear of alarming Sevaji,
they were desired to halt. Afzool Khan, draped
in a thin muslin garment, armed only with his
sword, and attended by a single armed fol-
lower, advanced in his palanquin to an open
bungalow prepared for the occasion. Sevaji
had made preparations for his purpose, not as
if conscious that he meditated a criminal and
treacherous deed, but as if resolved on some
meritorious and desperate action. Having
performed his ablutions with much earnestness,
VOL. I. K

130 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

he laid his head at his mother's feet and be-
sought her blessing. He then arose, put on a
steel chain cap, and chain armour under his
turban and cotton gown, concealed a crooked
dagger, or beechwa (the beechwa, or scorpion,
named from its resemblance to that reptile) in
his right sleeve, and on the fingers of his right
hand he fixed a wagnuk, a treacherous weapon,
well-known to the Mahrattas. Thus accoutred,
he slowly descended from the fort. The Khan
had arrived at the place of meeting before him,
and was expressing his impatience at the delay,
when Sevaji was seen advancing, apparently
unarmed, and, like the Khan, attended by only
one armed follower. Sevaji, in view of Afzool
Khan, frequently stopped, which was repre-
sented to Afzool as the effect of alarm, a sup-
position very likely to be admitted from his
diminutive size.

" Afzool Khan advanced two or three paces to
meet Sevaji, and when they were introduced, the
treacheous Mahratta, while they were perform-
ing the customary embrace, struck the wagnuk
into the bowels of Afzool^Khan, who, quickly
disengaging himself, clapped his hand on his
sword, exclaiming ' Treachery and murder ;'
but Sevaji instantly followed up the assault with
his dagger. The Khan had drawn his sword,

THE WAGNUK. 131

and made a cut at Sevaji, but the concealed
armour was proof against the blow. . . A gene-
ral scuffle ensued, the bearers had lifted the
wounded Khan into his palanquin, when some
followers of Sevaji's came up, cut off the head of
the dying man, and carried it to Pertabgurh."

The wagnuk, or tiger's claw, is a small in-
strument of steel, made to fit on the four
fingers. It has three crooked blades, which are
easily concealed in a half-closed hand.

Along with the other relics were produced
two of these weapons, one of which was fur-
nished with four claws, while the other had but
three. Before leaving the palace, I was allowed
to make a hasty sketch of these terrible instru-
ments. The story, with which they are con-
nected, has been gathered into the folk lore of
the Mahratta people, is chanted at many a feast,
and taught to little children as soon as they
can lisp. The use of the wagnuk in warfare has
long since passed away, but it still figures in the
amusements of some of the princes of the day.

Monsieur Roussellet, who visited the coast of
Baroda in 1864 (during the reign of the lately
deceased Gaekwar's brother, and who has
since published a magnificently illuminated
volume of Indian travel), became still more
famous after he wras invited to attend

k2

132 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

at an entertainment called the Naki-ka-
kausti, the combat with claws. The com-
batants, entirely nude, and adorned with
crowns and garlands, tore one another with
claws of horn ; but " formerly," we are as-
sured by the French gentleman, iC the claws
were made of steel, when the death of one of
the combatants was unavoidable." The steel
claws, however, have been suppressed, and
those of horn, which have replaced them, are
fitted into a kind of handle, which is fastened
to the closed fist of the right hand by means of
thongs. The combatants, intoxicated with
bang, rushed upon one another in a state of
fury outstripping all bounds, and with such
force that their necks and bodies were soon
covered with blood.

The Gaekwar was accustomed to stare at
this deadly struggle in a condition of such wild
excitement that he could scarcely restrain him-
self from imitatiug the movements of the com-
batants. The unfortunate one whose destiny it
was to bite the dust, was borne away, some-
times in a dying state, while the conqueror,
with the skin of his forehead hanging down
in shreds, would prostrate himself before the
Gaekwar, to receive from him a necklace of
pearls, and a richly embroidered dress.

TOWERS OF SILENCE. 133

Instead of returning through the town, we
struck off into a quiet country road, passing
close to a low stone building, which reminded
me of one of our Kentish martello towers. It
was the Parsee " Tower of Silence " — one of
those abodes of the dead which no one, with
the exception of the guardian, is allowed to
enter, unless it happen to be empty. The
reply, however, of a Parsee, when questioned
upon the subject, throws some light upon their
mode of proceeding :

" Our Prophet Zoroaster," he said, " who
lived six thousand years ago, taught us to
regard the elements as symbols of the Deity.
Earth, fire, water," he said, " ought never, under
any circumstances, to be defiled by contact with
putrefying flesh. Naked," he added, " we came
into the world, and naked we ought to leave it.
But the decaying particles of our bodies should
be dissipated as rapidly as possible, and in such
a way that neither Mother Earth nor the beings
she supports should be contaminated in the
slightest degree. In fact, our prophet was the
greatest of health officers, and following his
sanitary laws we build our towers on the tops of
the hills, above all human habitations. We
spare no expense in constructing them of the
hardest materials; and we expose our putres-

134 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

cent bodies in open stone receptacles, resting on
fourteen feet of solid granite, not necessarily to
be consumed by vultures, but to be dissipated
in the speediest possible manner, without the
possibility of polluting the earth or contaminat-
ing a single living being dwelling thereon. God
indeed sends the vultures, and, as a matter of
fact, these birds do their work much more ex-
peditiously than millions of insects would do if
our bodies were committed to the ground. In
a sanitary point of view nothing can be more
perfect than our plan. Even the rain water
which washes our skeletons is conducted by
channels into purifying charcoal. Here in these
fine towers rest the bones of all the Parsees that
have lived in Bombay for the last two hundred
years. We form a united body in life, and we
are united in death."

It is a pity that the great law-giver did not
promulgate a few more sanitary rules, for the
Parsees are in some respects the dirtiest people
in Bombay. Without exception they throw
every sort of refuse into the street before
their dwellings. It is an extraordinary fact
mentioned, but not explained, by Mr. Moor,
that " an expiring Parsee requires the pre-
sence of a dog in furtherance of his departing
soul."

MAHULI. 135

The bodies are placed upon iron gratings,
which slope downwards, so that eventually the
remains fall into a pipe, and from thence into a
pit beneath. Some people asserted that an
upper grating protects the body from the as-
saults of birds, but such is clearly not the case.
In the official report of the Bombay health offi-
cers, it is stated that it is disgusting to see the
vultures swooping upon their prey, and carry-
ing away pieces of flesh and bones. The vul-
ture which haunts these spots is of a peculiar
species, and it is said that the early Parsees
actually imported them on account of the
rapidity with which they accomplished their
horrid task.

On the following day we had a treat, as we
went to Mahuli, a celebrated spot of great beauty,
where the rivers Krishna and the Yena unite.
In India the junction of two rivers is always holy,
and in this instance it is particularly so, for the
Krishna is a very sacred stream — the most
considerable of the five declared by the Brah-
mans to be sacred, which flow from the site of
the temple of Maha Deo, in the Mahaba-
leshwar hills, the fruitful birthplace of many
rivers. The Lady Krishna, as she is called —
for the imaginative Hindoo, with his love of
symbolising, considers all rivers to be male or

136 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

female — is regarded as the Deity Krishna, in the
female form, and as such is worshipped during
a course of eight hundred miles, finally emptying
herself by herself into the Bay of Bengal. The
basin of the Krishna is computed to be 94,500
square miles.

Our road lay under a shady avenue of pee-
pul-trees. Religion in this country is so intimately
bound up with the domestic habits of this peo-
ple, that they worship not only Nature, in trees,
flowers, and streams, but also the most ordinary
objects. If no idol is at hand, the Hindoo will
make a god of his earthen pitcher, which the
Englishman looks upon merely as a useful ves-
sel, while his Eastern brother regards it as the
source from which he draws the spring of life,
the type of his creator.

An endless throng of people flowed along in
their gala dresses, so rich and various that I
could scarcely believe that the scene which
danced before my eyes was real. It was the
6th of March, a day on which, in this year,
occurred a great festival in honour of Shiva,
for these annual commemorations vary a little
in time, as they depend upon the state of the
moon. The story runs that on a certain night
a mighty hunter took shelter in a bel-tree (a
species of fig). To amuse himself he plucked

FESTIVAL IN HONOUR OF SHIVA. 137

branches and threw them by chance down upon
a Linga stone, which so gratified Shiva that he
immediately carried the hunter up to Kailas, his
celestial abode.

The ceremonies had commenced on the pre-
vious night. The devotees fast during twenty-
four hours, and pray in the temples with a
Brahman, who pours water on the Lingham,the
emblem of Shiva, which he also decorates with
flowers. He then reads over the thousand
names of the god, and at each name the vota-
ries cast bel leaves upon the Lingham. The
men were chiefly in white, and different castes
wore turbans of different dimensions and mate-
rial, some of them indeed being enormous. It
requires considerable skill to coil this kind of
head-dress into the proper shape. The rich
Hindoo had stripes of silver or gold woven
into his fine muslin. Those amongst the
crowd who were worshippers of Shiva — and
they greatly preponderated — had their peculiar
sectarial mark — the terrible eye and the per-
pendicular lines painted in white upon their
foreheads.*

* The Hindoo religion is split into two sects (which are
again subdivided), the worshippers of Shiva, and the wor-
shippers of Vishnu, who differ greatly from one another.
It is supposed that the former is the most ancient ; and
many believe it to be mixed up with the superstitions of
the conquered aboriginal tribes.

138 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

Many of the women were good-looking, or
would have been so, had they not been dis-
figured by that most grotesque of ornaments —
the nose-ring. They had smooth, dark, but not
black skins, shiny with cocoa-nut oil, fine eyes,
broad, but not ugly features,, and a wealth of
jetty hair, well greased, and ornamented with
coronets of yellow flowers. They wore vests,
sometimes of crimson, but so short as scarcely
to cover the bust, and to leave the finely-
rounded arm bare ; their only other garment
being the national savi, a piece of cotton, a
yard and a half in width, and eight or nine in
length, Where this covering begins or ends I
know not, it is so artfully wound round the
waist, and passed between the legs, hips, and
shoulders, sometimes also forming a scarf for the
head. The intense though dusky hues of these
savis, which are bordered with some colour
affording the utmost contrast, are well calcu-
lated to set the native women off to advantage.
If she is tall and shapely, the dress is decidedly
elegant ; but woe be to her if she is fat, which,
however, is fortunately seldom the case. When
this costume is seen for the first time, the ex-
posure of the leg above the calf, and part of the
side, has a curious effect ; but, as I have before
remarked, the dark skin is in itself a covering.

LOVE OF ORNAMENT. 139"

The Mahoniedan women, of whom only the very-
poor appear upon the street, also wear the
savi, but in such a manner as to reach the
ankle. I was surprised to see even these un-
veiled women, as the faces of the same class in
Turkey or Algeria would have been concealed.
Up to a certain standing the Hindoo female has
all the liberty of a European, but that point
passed, she is more carefully secluded in the
Zenana than the Turkish woman in the Harem.
The people of Western India are noted for
their love of gold and silver ornaments, pos-
sessing nose-rings, and toe-rings, and ear-rings
in abundance, sometimes half-a-dozen of the
latter being stuck round the rim of each ear.
Then they have necklaces, armlets, bracelets,
and anklets, and sometimes handsome silver
bands round the waist. Their workmanship is
good, and the metal pure, but there is no variety
in the designs, some of which, however, are
curious. I never wearied of looking at the
mothers, with their infants astride upon the
hip, on which the little black things, all eyes,
ride in the utmost security, in an attitude
equally picturesque and graceful. The older
children ran along innocent of clothes, which
they do not wear until they are six or seven
years of age, but they also were bedizened with
silver.

140 MY YEAR IX AN INDIAN FORT.

On this occasion there was a fair at Miihuli,
and all those who were returning from it were
bringing home their purchases. The women
and girls balanced upon their heads a brass
vessel, called a loto, which has bulging sides,
a narrow neck, and a very broad rim. It is
not only used by the Indian women for holding
water, but also as a market basket. They must
be rather expensive at first, but they are handed
clown in families, and in the long run cost less
than earthenware vessels would, considering
the fragility of pottery. It was strange to see
the children hugging brightly-painted idols to
their bosoms instead of dolls, while many car-
ried little shrines and altars instead of baby
houses. Nor were they without their miniature
lotos, which would very likely serve for the
smoking incense with which they would fumi-
gate their toy-god. The ever-shifting scene
was bewildering. Had I possessed as many
eyes as Indra, I could have employed them all.

The Ascetics, or Saints, with their wildly-
rolling eyes, long tangled locks, and every bone
in their wretched bodies visible, were horrible
objects. It was formerly their pleasure to ap-
pear entirely naked, but government obliges
them now to put on some clothing, which is
probably regarded as a penance. Even these

STRANGE SCENES. 141

creatures were less objectionable than those
whose sleek, well-nourished bodies were streak-
ed with lime, or grey with funeral ashes, which
they stick on with the juice of the banyan-tree.
I felt quite angry at seeing beautiful garlands
of fresh flowers round the bull necks of these
degraded beings, and sincerely did I pity the
emaciated horses which some of them bestrode.
As a class, these men are horribly vicious, and
are in possession of large sums of money, which
they often bury, thus explaining how it is that
treasure is so often found concealed in this
country. Some fine elephants, with trappings
of scarlet and gold, came along with stately
step, carrying Hindoos, who were the petty
chiefs of the neighbourhood, and possibly their
wives, in the latticed howdahs, which were
carefully closed. The well-to-do Bunneah class
rode their tattoos with an air of great import-
ance, each man attended by a servant on each
side, and an umbrella-bearer in the rear. If
very rich, the beast on which he rode would
surely be spotted or piebald, animals so marked
being very dear to the native heart.

On reaching our destination, we paused to
take breath under a noble banyan-tree, but no
repose of mind was to be obtained under its
shade. It was a self-contained little world.

142 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

Suspended from its branches were hundreds of
black objects, exactly resembling large shrivelled
up kid gloves — flying foxes, huge bats, who
had hooked themselves up to rest after a night
of thieving and shrieking ; and there were
swarms of white-faced monkeys, whose antics
were most amusing. Throughout India the
Sattara monkeys are renowned for their size
and wisdom. They flew from branch to branch,
seemingly regardless of the little ones, who
clung round their necks. All at once they
caught sight of us, and recognising us to be
strangers, began to grin, and chatter, and hiss.
When their anger was a little expended, they
clasped their arms round their babies, and
swinging themselves from bough to bough,
sought for a place of greater safety at the top
of the tree. These monkeys, being sacred ani-
mals, and under the protection of the Brahmans,
are never molested. I could have watched
them for hours instead of minutes, their move-
ments were so animated and amusing,

Near the tree, raised on a high platform,
stood a pile of buildings, which I in my ignor-
ance took to be a cluster of temples ; but the
apparently separate parts, each with its stepped
roof, formed one harmonious whole. It was a
Jaina temple, with the peculiar architecture of

JAINA TEMPLES. 143

which I afterwards became better acquainted.
Long bands of white woollen were stretched
from one part to another. We were allowed
to stand and look into the open hall, which was
supported by curiously- carved pillars. We saw
that it contained a throne, on which squatted a
Buddha-like figure, with folded legs. It was
surrounded by lights, wreathed with flowers ;
the air was heavy with incense, and the divinity
looked down with a hideous leer upon the de-
votees who were performing their puji (wor-
ship), bowing their heads to the earth, and
then, standing upright, raising the closed palms
of their hands above their heads.

The scene from the high bank above the river
was beautiful as well as striking. The sharp
spit of land which seemed to oppose the union
of the Lady Krishna with the Yena was the
holiest of ground. Upon it was erected a large
open shrine, with a Lingham in the centre (more
than one sect appeared to celebrate this festi-
val). It was adorned with ropes of flowers, and
heaps of blossoms brought by the votaries were
piled around it. They also performed their
puji, and threw small coins into the dishes held
by the officiating priests. On each side of the
broad clear stream formed by the united rivers
were groups of temples. One sacred building

144 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

which stood alone is said to have been founded
in the sixteenth century by a banker at Sattara,
a lucky man, who chanced to discover a large
cavity filled with treasure. In three places fine
broad flights of steps, like our mountain friends,
called ghats, and for the same reason, descended
to the water. In some parts of India these
ghats are built with great architectural mag-
nificence, and even here the monotony of the
wide stairs was broken by handsome balustrades.
A little above the level of the water was an
irregular piece of ground, the burning ghat, or
place of cremation, dotted over with pyramidal
tombs, memorials of the rich whose bones had
been collected upon the spot, and thrown into
the sacred waters beneath ; and, awful thought,
on this spot hundreds of women had suffered
suttee. Half imbedded in the sand lay the
sculptured form of some colossal animal, proba-
bly a bull, but worn past all knowledge by
hundreds of monsoons.

The previous year the Rani of Sattara, scarcely
a middle-aged woman, had succumbed to her

love for cherry-brandy, and Gr was present

at her funeral procession and cremation, which
occurred here by torch-light. The dead woman
was seated in an open palanquin, and the lurid
glare played upon her face, and lit up the jewels

A CAR OF JUGGERNATH. 145

with which the corpse was magnificently adorn-
ed. In front walked her adopted son, clad in
yellow garments. The funeral pyre consisted
of sandal and other sweet-smelling woods,
with costly gums and precious essences, the
whole saturated with fine oil. Her costly
robes and precious ornaments were remov-
ed, she was gently laid upon the pyramid,
and her son, with averted head, fired the com-
bustible mass, from which soon shot forth flames
that concealed the corpse from the gaze of
the bystanders. The pyre was watched for
many hours, after which the Brahmans collected
the bones into a silver dish, and, with prayers,
they were committed to the holy keeping of the
sacred Krishna.

By the side of the road there stood, on wheels,
a wooden erection of considerable dimensions.
It rose in shelves, which were supported by
slender, carved pillars. We were not invited to
inspect the gaudy paintings with which it was
covered, for it was a car of Juggernath, and the
designs depicted on such vehicles are often
exceedingly impure. Interesting as were the
scenes around, we were not sorry to leave them
behind. The sun was hot, the colours and
movements of the ever-shifting crowd dazzled
the eyes, and the incessant beating of the cy-

VOL. I L

146 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

lindrical drum, the clang of the cymbals, and the
squeaks and groans of some instrument sound-
ing like a bagpipe, made us feel as if some
accompanyist were beating time upon our heads.
The musicians who play upon these instruments
are a race apart, supposed to be descended from
some of the aboriginal tribes. They have played
their part in history, and sometimes these bands
have had lands and forests allotted to them,
which has brought about local wars. They
were ill-favoured black men, with features rather
of the Negro than the Hindoo type.

As we were returning home, G pointed

out a large pile of rough brickwork, an unfin-
ished temple, on which a fabulous sum of money
had been spent by the late Rani. It was erect-
ed to the memory of a favourite white elephant,
drowned in fording the Krishna during the
rains. White elephants are highly prized in
India, not on account of anything beautiful in
their appearance, but simply because they are
rare. The absence of the colouring matter in
the skin and eye produces this albino species.
A spurious sort of white elephant is produced
by the constant grooming of the skin with
pumice stone.*

* The Burmese believe that such animals are transmigra-
ting Buddhas, and revere them accordingly. An amusing

PEOPLE OP SATTARA. 147

The people of Sattara are a primitive race,
and have retained more of the manners and cus-
toms of their ancestors than the inhabitants of
any other part of the Indian peninsula. They
have a rich folk-lore of old border songs and
stories, which they chant and sing in minor
keys at their festivals, as they did in the war-
like times which have passed away. Although
the task would not be without difficulty, it is a
pity that no attempt is made to collect these
relics of ancient poetry. It could, however,
only be done by some one not only conversant
with the old Mahratta language, but also popu-
lar enough with the people to gain their con-
account of one of these sacred animals is given by Mr.
Frank Vincent, in his amusing book, " The Land of the
White Elephant." "One of the proudest titles," he says,
" of the King of Ava is, ' Lord of the White Elephant.'
The Mandalay animal I found to be a male of medium size,
with white eyes, and a forehead and ears spotted white,
appearing as if they had been rubbed with pumice stone or
sand-paper, but the remainder of the body was as black as
coal. He was a vicious brute, chained by the fore-legs
in the centre of a shed, and surrounded by the adjuncts of
royalty, gold and white cloth umbrellas, an embroidered
canopy, and some bundles of spears in the corner of the
room. The attendants told me that a young one, cap-
tured in the most eastern part of British Burmah, near
Taunghoo, had recently died, after a short residence in the
capital, and that the king had been out of sorts ever since.
The animal was suckled by twelve women.

l2

148 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

fidence. The elements of secretiveness and
suspicion, which appear to be inherent in the
Hindoo character, have been cultivated for ages
by these mountaineers, who have ever opposed
force by cunning. Their lives have always
depended upon their vigilance, and to this day
no stranger, should he ask the most trivial
question, would receive a simple, straightfor-
ward, truthful answer.

149

CHAPTER VII.

The Seven-Starred Fort — A Moment of Peril — Extensive
Cemetery — Hindoo Superstition — Fine Idgar — Arrival
at Kolhopur — The Rajah — Government School — Death
of a Young Rajah at Florence — The Gates of Kolhopur
— The Rajah's Palace — An Amusing Carriage-load —
An Irate Colonel — Accident to our Carriage — Nipani —
Cruelty of the Desay — Soutguttee — Arrival at our
Indian Home.

SHORTLY after leaving Sattara, we had a
charming view of the Seven-Starred Fort,
and of the fortifications which crown some of
the adjacent hills. The country was wild and
pretty, and, according to M., delightful for
riding. Not a group of the many trees which
dotted the green downs, not a swelling hill
which gave variety to the landscape, with which
she was unacquainted. Our drive would have
been delightful, had it not been for the careless-
ness of our driver, who many a time drove us
dangerously near the edge of the road, from
whence there was a deep descent. On one oc-
casion we felt sure that an awkward upset was

150 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

inevitable. The front wheel was fairly over the
brink, and we had just time to jump out, when,
being lightened of our weight, the struggling
horses were able to pull the carriage across the
road. The other carriage not coming up
quickly, we were anxious as to its safety ; but
our anxiety was soon relieved by its appear-
ance. Then we had to ford an awkward river,
the bridge over which had been swept away
during the last monsoon. The night was as
dark as pitch, but a hundred torches threw
their fitful light upon the dangerous stream,
where numbers of men were at work upon a
new bridge, cheering their labours by singing
in chorus. They were a wild set of people.
We were thankful when we got safely across,
and were again on our way. Camp fires blazed
at intervals in sheltered spots near the road.
Great waggons were drawn up in semi-circles,
and peaceful bullocks jingled their bells as they
munched their hay, whilst their drovers stretched
themselves near the flames, baking rough cakes,
or watching the grain simmering for their even-
ing meal. These tranquil scenes, these quiet
peeps into native life, were very pleasant.

Before reaching Koohad, which we did not
do until the small hours, we were disturbed by
the prospect of crossing another river ; but

EXTENSIVE CEMETERY. 151

happily we had no trouble this time, as it was
spanned by a magnificent bridge of many
arches. The morning's light shone upon a
plain covered with tombs. Fine domes arose at a
little distance, and in their midst was a building,
which looked like a fortification. This was
delightful, for, having a clear two hours before

me, I obtained leave from G , and set off

along with Bustle upon an exploring expedi-
tion. I found myself in a vast cemetery, in
which there were acres and acres of crumbling
monuments. In one spot I thought that I
recognized the Hebrew character upon the
sloping stones peculiar to Jewish places of
interment. Further on a large raised platform,
enclosed by a breast-high wall, arrested my
attention. I climbed a handsome flight of steps,
which led to the open entrance. The tombs
within were large, but no inscription, no carv-
ing, told their tale. As they rose in steps,
however, I took them to be Hindoo memorials.
These special burial-grounds were but spots
compared with the vast extent of ground, con-
taining thousands of Mahomedan graves, which
spread around, a very city of the dead. These
graves bore no resemblance to the turbaned
monuments of the Turkish Moslem. Still less
was their resemblance to the few rough stones,

152 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

misplaced by the jackals, with the bit of splint-
ered rock at the head, which marks the grave
of the Arab. Here, over the rich man's dust,
rose the patterned dome and the fretted
minaret, one of which in particular struck me
as being exceedingly beautiful. It consisted of
four lofty pointed arches forming a square, and
set upon an estrade, and it was crowned by
a low dome, half hidden by tufts of the Indian
fig and the trembling mimosa. There were
three monuments in the interior — plain and
rude structures. It is strange to see so much
richness of architecture lavished upon these
dwellings of the dead, when their immediate
coverings are often appallingly barbarous, the
white plaster above being often moulded into a
ghostly resemblance of the form beneath. This
cemetery was evidently the occasional resort of
living Hindoos, for here and there, marked by
stones, were circles, in the centre of which rude
shrines, formed of slanting slabs, sheltered a
shapeless red-daubed stone, before which the
poor idolater had made his meal of grain or
cocoa-nut, after offering the first portion to his
god. The nearer I got to the building, which
I was determined to reach,, the more was I
puzzled by its appearance.

As I threaded my way round groves, and

INDIAN SUPERSTITION. 153

avoided great bushes of prickly pear and
strange thorny shrubs, two beautiful white
doves kept flitting across my path. The na-
tives of India, both Mussulman and Hindoo,
believe that the souls of the recent dead thus
dog the footsteps of the living, and take due
cognizance of human affairs. That such a
superstition exists in China we know from the
pictured story upon the Wedgwood plate ; and
the Russians affirm that for three weeks the
soul of a deceased relation hovers about the
house, in order to satisfy himself that he is
sufficiently mourned by those from whom he
is now separated by an impassable gulf. A very
unpleasant ideaj A white vulture next came
swooping from above, perhaps with the idea
that Bustle would make a delicate rnorsel. The
doggie, being intent upon his own affairs, did
not seem to perceive the bird of prey. He
started a fine hare, pursued it until I thought
that he would be lost, and when puss suddenly
disappeared into a hole, he stood transfixed,
with a look of comical surprise.

At last I reached the object of my curiosity,
but was still unable to form any conjecture as
to its probable use. The building consisted of
a lofty brick wall, with a funnel-shaped tower
at each end. I reckoned its length to be about

154 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

two hundred feet, and it was two or three feet
thick, while there was a narrow path along the
top. Passing through a small aperture right in
the centre of the wall, I faced round, and found
myself before a highly ornamental screen. The
only projection was in the centre, where an im-
posing flight of stone steps led up to a plat-
form, at the back of which, let into the wall,
was a fine-pointed arch of stone, a kind of niche,
which was walled up to a certain height, in
order to form a shelf or seat. Eight high-
pointed stone arches, four on each side of the
steps which were formed in the wall, orna-
mented the base of the building, and a row of
miniature arches, connected together above
them, ran the whole length of the screen. The
edifice was beautifully finished by patterned
edging. The brickwork was worthy of the best
period of Rome, and the pale grey stone let
into the time-subdued red wall had a charming
effect. It was certainly a very fine piece of ar-
chitecture.

I afterwards learned that this building was
called an Idgar, and that it was used for certain
Mahomedan services, divided into smaller and

greater Ids. G told me that insignificant

erections of this sort were common in India,
but that he had never met with so fine a speci-

SHADY AVENUES. 155-

men as this which I described to him. These
Idgars must, I think, be peculiar to the East.
I had never met with anything resembling them
either in Turkey or in Northern Africa. The
existence here of one of peculiar merit, and the
vast size of the cemetery in which it stood, were
explained when I came to know, alas ! too later
what an important part Karhad had played in
the early Mahomedan dynasty, which ended in
the middle of the twelfth century. My atten-
tion, indeed, was attracted by two tall towers
which rose above the houses of the town,
scarcely a mile away, and I feel a blush of
shame at having betrayed my ignorance by-
asking if they belonged to some sort of manu-
factory. My excuse must be that in spite of
the antiquity of these towers, which had existed
for at least eight hundred years, they did in-
deed bear a striking resemblance to the chim-
neys of a cotton mill.

There is nothing striking in the scenery
between Karhad and Kolhopur, but the country
is well cultivated. We saw many villages half
hidden in foliage — the huts, indeed, were
scarcely visible, so comfortably were they
covered by their steep-pitched roofs. There
were fine trees by the road side, principally
mango and Indian fig. The Government is-

156 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

very strict respecting these avenues, which
afford so delightful a shade to the traveller.
No man, even on his own ground, may cut
timber within a certain distance of the high-
way.

Our progress was very enjoyable until we
came to a good-sized river, which had to be
forded, and the passage of which was accom-
plished amidst the usual tremors, noise, and
confusion. In consequence of the delay we did
not reach our destination until two in the morn-
ing, and as we were to spend two days at
Kolhopur, and expected visitors who were sure
to come early, we had to rise betimes, in order
to get one of our two rooms ready for their re-
ception. The weather was very hot, and as
soon as the last caller had departed, we were
glad to rest until the evening breeze sprang
up. We then set off to see the sights of the
town.

Kolhopur is a large native state, which is at
present under the management of the English,
as the Rajah is quite a boy. He is entitled to
a salute of nineteen guns, the status of a native
prince being indicated by the number of guns
in his salute, ranging from nine to twenty-one.
Kolhopur boasts of possessing in its government
school one of the handsomest modern buildings

GOVERNMENT SCHOOL. 157

to be found in all India. It is built of fine grey-
stone, in the Saracenic style, and fully deserves
its high reputation for architectural beauty as
well as learning. We were conducted over it
by two grave-looldng elderly men, said to be
famous scholars, and employed in the establish-
ment as teachers of Sanskrit. A knot of pupils
followed in our wake — intelligent-looking young
men, who spoke English with facility, but did
not always understand the questions put to
them. They were handsome boys, probably
Brahmans, judging from their pale brown com-
plexions. Their costume was of spotless white,
and they bore upon their foreheads the dreadful
eye, in red or yellow, placed between two per-
pendicular lines, which denoted the sect to
which they belonged.

The centre of the building is occupied by a
spacious lecture-hall, with an open roof of teak
wood ; a balustraded gallery, splendidly carved
in arabesques, runs round the interior. From
this gallery sculptured doors of equal beauty
open upon various apartments. At the end
of the hall there stood a marble bust of the late
Kajah, who died in Florence at the early age
of twenty-three. Many people may remember
the interesting accounts which appeared in the
English papers of the period respecting the

158 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

curious ceremonies which accompanied the
erection of the costly funeral pyre by the banks
of the Arno, on which the rite of cremation was
performed. This prince was a highly enlight-
ened man, and a great loss to his people. The
bust, which gave one the impression of being a
likeness, was good in an artistic point of view.
It was both modelled and worked by a native
of Kolhopur. We questioned the pupils as to
the abilities of the young Rajah, and asked if he
was acquainted with Sanskrit. They looked
grave, shook their heads, and when pressed,
said, " No, only with a little English — nothing
else." We afterwards heard that the young
gentleman was a very naughty boy indeed, and
exceedingly sly, giving his English tutor a
world of trouble ; but as he is only about twelve
years old, he has time to amend his ways. He
is educated along with another young prince,
the Rajah of Sawant-Wadi.

We were ushered into a fine library and read-
ing-room, and I was amused at seeing Dr. Os-
wald's works placed next to " Vanity Fair,"
and speculated as to what the Hindoo boys
would make of Becky Sharp. The education
in these government schools, it is scarcely ne-
cessary to remark, is purely secular. Still at-
tended by our suite, we were taken up to an

GATES OF KOLHOPUR. 159

adjoining roof, which formed part of the palace,
from which we looked down upon the quad-
rangular court and surrounding pile of build-
ings. The space enclosed was of considerable
extent, and is used for reviews, and sports of
various sorts. It was a queer old place, rudely
painted in stripes of many colours, in which
red predominated, and was undergoing the re-
paration which it sorely needed. The mother
and widow of the late Rajah live in a low bun-
galow, erected upon the flat roof of the vast
audience-hall. It was painted blue and white,
and had an air of homely comfort ; the lattice-
work around was covered with creepers, and
the terraces set with shrubs and pretty flowers
in pots. Close at hand, in a dark chamber with
an open door, there reposed two immense kettle-
drums, which are used on festive occasions.

We were next invited to ascend a winding
staircase leading to a small platform, which
commanded an extensive view both over the
town and the surrounding country. The nar-
row streets teemed with white-clad men, duskily
robed women, having glittering lotos on their
heads, and naked children ; the wooden houses
looked poor and dark. Kolhopur is a walled
town, w7ith five gates, which are closed at night,
and guarded by day. The one by which we

160 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

had entered was surmounted by a lofty Sara-
cenic arch. Away from these busy haunts were
several large houses., surrounded by stately
groves of mango, and tamarind, and palm-trees.
They, like the palace, were profusely decorated
in bright colours ; but by far the most interest-
ing spot in the whole place lay at our feet. It
was a Jaina temple, covered in by three sepa-
rate graduated roofs, one of which was sur-
mounted by a spire, indicating the cell of the
idol. The building was enclosed by colonnades
of pillars, and the whole was carefully hidden
from the public gaze by a high wall. In the
far distance spread the shimmering waters of
the tank, or lake, on the banks of which were
groups of white temples, shaded by sacred
trees. We drove there afterwards, and did not
find that we were rewarded for our pains.

Kolhopur is situated upon bare, undulating
downs — pretty, it may be, when the rains have
renewed their carpet of green, but looking
utterly desolate in their present dried-up con-
dition. Returning home, we passed the newly-
made Badminton ground and Government
gardens. They were pretty and shady, ad-
vantage having been taken of a group of noble
old trees; and the soil evidently suited the
double-pink and red geraniums which grew in

IRATE COLONEL. 161

t

rich clumps. "We were not able to examine the
other flowers, having to hurry to the bungalow
in order to dress for a dinner-party.

Our next day's start was later than usual.

G had his Arabs up to try for the first

time. M. accompanied him, but being no hero-
ine, I declined to join the expedition. About
half an hour before we left, a heavily-laden car-
riage drew up. The top was piled high with
bassinets and cribs, and bedding and baths ;
and the inside was a very hive, out of which
poured innumerable small children. I think
that their number must have been made up of
twins or triplets. A scene of utter confusion
ensued — the outgoing baby roared, the incom-
ing baby screamed, the nurses and ayahs got
into a muddle with their bottles and baskets,
and all talked at once at the top of their
voices. Great was the excitement, and in the
very midst of it another large vehicle came
bowling up, with a solitary individual — a host
in himself, a red-nosed, irate colonel. When
told that he was too late to obtain shelter, his
wrath was amusing. " It was the third time,"
he said, " that he had found this very bungalow
full, and the authorities should hear of it." The
bystanders laughed, the warrior shot withering
glances from under his shaggy brows, bowled

VOL. I. M

162 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

away, and was lost to sight in a vast cloud of
dust. The calm which ensued when we were
once off was perfectly delightful.

Kolhopur is a large military station, but the
people condemned to live there are, during the
hot season, sincerely to be pitied. Provisions,
too, are scarce. Mutton is not to be got ; the
beef is very indifferent ; and it is impossible to
procure a tolerable supply of vegetables. As
we passed along, all the bushes and small trees
were shrouded in dust, and were either dead or
appeared to be so. There were, however, some
signs of future growth, as people were busy
planting out slips of sugar-cane, but only in
places which could be irrigated. The evening
was very fine, and when night came on it was
still so clear that we could see with great dis-
tinctness far-distant objects. The crescent moon,
too young to obscure the calm, steady light of
the stars, soon sank behind a low line of hill,
and we lay back, enjoying the scene in silence.

While we were enjoying the cool sea breeze
which had succeeded the cruel heat of the day,
we fell over suddenly on one side, with an
alarming bump. My dog was in my lap. As
we did not know what was about to happen,

G jumped out, and we scrambled after him.

Our wheel was off, and it was four miles to any

DETAINED ON OUR JOURNEY. 163

station. The second carriage immediately
came up, and its contents being disgorged, we
all sat down in a string by the side of the road.
Two passing peasants were hailed, and all the
men set actively to work to repair the mischief,
the box of the wheel having gone wrong. The
light of the improvised torches cast their glare
upon red turbans, dark faces, glittering eyes,
and teeth of dazzling whiteness. How a Dutch
artist of old would have delighted to
paint such a scene. We strayed about until
we were tired, and the children were sent to
their slumbers. It was a pretty spot, close by
a great banyan-tree, which cast a deep black
shadow in the distance ; low hills were clearly
cut against a greenish background, and on a
plot of grass away from the road a huge boul-
der-stone was set upright upon a pivot, perhaps
so placed by hands which had been dust for
centuries. We did not dare to sit near the
tree, for fear of snakes, so we nestled down by
the boulder, and watched the progress and
decline of a fire in the distance, which we
imagined to be that of a bungalow burning.
At first the flames shot up vigorously, but at
last they died down, leaving behind an ardent
glow and a bright spot, the brilliancy of which
gradually declined, till it disappeared alto-

M 2

164 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

gether. Then the post, who came galloping by,
stopped for a moment to give advice, but
offered no assistance, and tore away into dark-
ness. We then turned our eyes to the sky, and
gazed at Orion, and the ever-glorious Southern
Cross, which stood erect before us.

We were soon again en route. Nipani, the
next place to which we came, is a town of some
historical interest, as for centuries its powerful
chiefs had waged constant and fierce war with
their neighbours, their principal feud being with
the Rajahs of Kolhopur and the chiefs of Bel-
gaum, and in 1796 matters were going so badly
with the reigning Desay, or Nipanikar, that
Major-General Campbell was ordered by General
Wellesley to march to his relief. In consequence
of this timely assistance, the Nipanikar for a
time co-operated with the English, but still
continued at enmity with his Kolhopur neigh-
bour, whom in 1808 he totally defeated, taking
five thousand men, and all his cannon, colours,
and elephants, the Rajah himself being sorely
wounded. But the struggle continued, and
after a time was found to be so troublesome to
other states, that the Peishwa, then supreme in
power, not only insisted upon peace, but arrang-
ed a marriage between the Desay of Nipani and
one of the Kolhopur princesses. The marriage

THE DESAY OF NIPANI. 165

was celebrated at Kolhopur, but a considerable
gloom was cast over the festivities by the sud-
den departure of the Nipani chief, who, suspect-
ing treachery, decamped in the night, along
with his bride. Time went on. The Nipanikar
outwardly supported the English, but it was
known that he meditated treachery.

Strange stories of the Desay's cruelty, origi-
nating, no doubt, in the fear he inspired, are
still current in the neighbourhood. On one
occasion he is said to have amused himself by
making several young and beautiful women
stand side by side on a narrow balcony without
parapet, overhanging one of the deep reser-
voirs of the palace. Passing along inside the
line of trembling women, he would suddenly
thrust one of them headlong into the water
below, in which he would watch her drowning
struggles, and gloat over her dying agonies.

In 1831 the Nipanikar endeavoured to im-
pose a suppositious child on Government as his
heir, but the fraud was discovered. It came
to light that one of his wives, Tay-Bay, had
been taken to a house in Nipani, on the pretence
that she was about to bear a child. A widow
who expected soon to be delivered was convey-
ed to the same abode. When the child, a boy,
was born, he was placed in Tay-Bay's arms, and

166 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

given out to be her offspring. The widow was
murdered, and information was given by the
owner of the house in which the affair took
place, but he soon after died with suspicious
suddenness. His story was confirmed by the
discovery of the widow's body. Government,
in consideration of the Nipani chief's age, and
of the services he had rendered to the British
army in 1800 and 1803, did not accede to the
recommendation of the political agent immedi-
ately to confiscate his saringam, or territories,
but determined to punish the Desay by declar-
ing that the estates were to lapse after his
death, and that no son of his body or of his
adoption would be recognized as heir to the
saringam, though he would be allowed to in-
herit the chiefs personal property. General
Munro writes thus respecting him :

" He is too wary, and has still too many pos-
sessions, acquired almost entirely from his con-
nection with the British Government, to run
any risk of losing them. He is, besides, not
ignorant that he is detested by the inhabitants
of jaghirs (villages and the lands attached to
them), for his opposition and wanton cruelty.
During the late campaign I received invitations
from most of the villages to take possession of
them."

TYRANNY OF THE DESAY. 167

At last the Desay became so unmanageable
that General Munro determined to march on
Nipani, intending to lay siege to the fort, unless
the Desay agreed without reservation to the
terms he proposed. This compelled the Nipani-
kar to submit, which he did immediately on the
arrival of the army before Nipani. He had from
the beginning of his career pursued a system of
throwing into prison all the rich inhabitants,
not only of his own districts, but of every dis-
trict in which he obtained temporary authority,
with a view of extorting money from them, and
of seizing and keeping in confinement the
women the most remarkable for their beauty.
Many of these unfortunate people had been in
prison ten or twelve years, and many had died
every year from the cruel treatment to which
they were exposed. When General Munro was
near Nipani, he heard only of a few prisoners,
whom he ordered to be released, but when he
marched from the place he learned that about
three hundred remained in confinement. He
wrote to the Desay, commanding him to release
them, and many were set at liberty, but by no
means all. The General therefore directed that
some of the villages on the south bank of the
Krishna should not be restored until all the
victims of the Desay's tyranny were released.

168 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

The Nipani Desay had for some time past
been failing in health. He was very infirm, and
subject to fits, under which, for a time, he com-
pletely lost his reason. On June 28th, 1839, he
died., having previously adoped Morar Rao, the
son of his half-brother, as heir to his private
estates. No sooner was he dead than his six
widows began to quarrel over the property.
The eldest had the custody of the heir, and the
five others kept up continued complaints
against her. She died at the end of 1840, and
the management of the property was entrusted
to the rest of the widows. Two of the remain-
ing ladies induced the boy's father to seize his
son, adopted by the late Desay, and with the
aid of the Arabs, whom to the number of five
hundred the Nipanikar had kept in his ser-
vice, to take possession of the fort and set the
authorities at defiance. The aid of the military
had to be called in, and the fort, being attacked
on September 20th, 1841, surrendered on the
following day, and was afterwards dismantled
at the expense of the young heir, who had to
pay also the whole cost of the expedition. This
story of crime and intrigue, abstracted from the
records of the Bombay Government, I have
been induced to give, in spite of its length, as
illustrative of the state of Mahratta family life

RUINS OF THE DESAY'S PALACE. 169

even in this century. Not a castle-crowned
hill in all the Deccan but could tell of similar
atrocities.

The travellers' bungalow at Nipani stands in
the shade of the ancient fort. There were
masses of ruined battlements, scattered into
wild confusion by gunpowder, not fifty yards
from my chamber window. I was not long
before I threaded my way amongst them,
peeped down into the deep ditch, and climbed
the fragment of a bastion still in situ. Its
grass-grown summit was strong even in decay.
From my lofty perch I commanded a complete
view of the crumbling walls, to which Nipani
once owed its troublesome strength. Acres
and acres of ground, once covered by buildings,
were now abandoned to a few straggling herds
of cattle, who were trying to keep life in them
by munching the sun-scorched herbage.

I was pondering upon the past, and Bustle
was intent upon a tit-mouse, when M. and

G came forth and beckoned to me. There

were but two buildings in the whole enceinte —
the Travellers' Rest and a great square pile of
brick in the distance, the wicked Desay's ruined
palace. It had not at all the appearance of an
Eastern building, but more resembled Hampton
Court, seen from a distant reach of old Father

170 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

Thames, than anything else. Not being able
to pursue a straight path towards it, we had to
search for gaps in the green walls of prickly
pears, formidable barriers, from which I bore
away a six weeks' remembrance in the shape of
a fine sharp thorn. These plants were covered
with flame-coloured fruit about the size of eggs,
the sweet, mawkish substance of which was so
well armed by nature against the hand of the
wayfarer that it needed no other protection.
In Spain, and probably in India, this fruit is
made into little cakes, stained in every variety
of colour, and pressed into elegant shapes,
beautiful to look at, but dust and ashes in the
mouth.

Passing under a lofty archway, we entered
the palace, and as we rambled over the buildiug
we saw sufficient indications to lead us to the
conclusion that it had never been completely
finished. The great beams of teak and other
wooden fittings were finely carved, and some
vacant places suggested the idea that some of
them had been removed. There were vast,
echoing corridors, and on each side, hollowed
out of the thick walls, were cells, unprotected
by the doors which had once secured them.
These recesses were scarcely four feet in width,
and no adult could have stood upright in them.

RUINS OF THE PALACE. 171

Miserable must have been the lot of the poor
cramped victims of the Nipani's cruelty who
were imprisoned in them. The Desay had
evidently had a fondness for tanks, there being
two in front of the palace, two in the centre
court, and two in a cloistered court beyond.
They were very ornamental, still full of water,
and surrounded by broad copings of sculptured
stone. One, which was overhung by a balcony,
we supposed to be that into which the wretched
old man was wont to hurl the victims of his
capricious cruelty.

We had to be careful in mounting the narrow
corkscrew stone steps which led to the upper
story ; nor were the wide passages altogether
safe, though they appeared to have been strong-
ly built, the dislocation of the stones and the
wide cracks which we observed being probably
the effect of earthquakes. The rooms to which
these stairs led were long, low, narrow, and
dark, but semi-obscurity is a luxury in the East.
The unplastered walls had once been concealed
by rich hangings ; and there were numberless
hooks for suspending lamps and lanterns.
What scenes may have taken place in these
chambers when the old chief's wicked will ran
riot.

At the end of one corridor there was a large

172 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

■window, which commanded an extensive view
over the towrn and the flat country beyond, and
from it we overlooked a seventh tank, which
was evidently the one used by the people, being
very large — quite a lake, in fact. In the middle
of it rose a small square island of red rock,
which had been shaped by art. It was perfect-
ly square, with a deep cutting on one side. It
was probably the site of some ancient temple,
and the spot from which the place derives its
name, Nipani, in Mahratta means " the Town
of the Water."

Recrossing the sandy plain, we came upon
that most melancholy sight, the solitary grave
of an Englishman in a distant foreign land — a
spot over which I always feel inclined to linger,
as if my sympathy could avail the dead. This
tomb was raised to the memory of a certain
" George Sandford, Overseer P. W. Department.
Aged 31."

We had, alas ! but one more night to pass
before the end of this journey, which to me had
been delightful. How I did enjoy opening my
eyes each morning upon a new scene, and
roving about whilst the dew still glistened !
We were to sleep at Soutguttee, and in order
to reach it, had to cross a short but steep ghat,
the abrupt sides of which were shaggy with

REMARKABLE BANYAN-TREE. 173

jungle. The plain beyond was mapped out
into fields, divided from one another by low
banks, which at a later period would be irri-
gated. The dark earth exposed had a gloomy
appearance, but I was told that, after the rains,
this district would be luxuriantly green, covered,
as it would be, with rich crops of sugar-cane,
tobacco, the castor-oil plant, maize, many other
sorts of grain, and yellow blossoming cotton.
It is the black earth which makes Barocla
so exceedingly fertile ; but there is not much
of this precious soil in the district of Bel-
gaum.

We had to rise before daybreak, but by the
time my small personal arrangements were
made, there was a glimmer of light. Having
half an hour at my disposition, M. advised me
to take a walk by a path through the woods,
which led to a very remarkable banyan-tree,
under which the Duke of Wellington is said to
have camped. The roots, which had shot down
and sprung up again in stems, had become
united with the parent-tree, and formed a cor-
rugated wall, which I measured with my pocket-
handkerchief, and found to be thirteen yards in
length. I ran, in order to get a peep at another
banyan-tree, which is still more curious. The
weeping roots had formed a hundred independ-

174 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

exit stems, which clustered round their parent
stem, and mingled their leaves with its foliage.
A regiment might have bivouacked beneath the
shade of this magnificent tree. It is neither
safe nor pleasant to loiter under these trees,
which afford famous cover for flying foxes,
snakes, and monkeys, which find shelter beneath
them in legions. The scene recalled to my
memory those famous lines by Milton, from the
ninth book of " Paradise Lost " —

" The fig-tree, not that kind for fruit renown'd,
But such as at this day to Indians known,
In Malabar or Deccan spreads her arms,
Branching so broad and long, that in the ground
The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
About the mother-tree, a pillar'd shade
High over-arch'd, and echoing walls between ;
There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,
Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds
At loop-holes cut through thickest shade ; those leaves
They gathered, broad as Amazonian targe ;
And with what skill they had, together sew'd,
To gird their waist."

Soutguttee is a delightful place, situated on
the slopes of a narrow valley, watered by the
Gatpanba, the same river which, rushing over
the high black precipices at Gokak, forms the
famous falls. At Soutguttee it is a fine clear
stream, winding along a rocky bed, and form-
ing deep pools, in which the alligator loves to

ARRIVAL AT BELGAUM. 175

dwell. The river furnishes fine sport to the fish-
erman, and the jungle on its banks abounds in
big as well as little game. No wonder that this
spot is in great request in hot weather. People
from Belgaum bring thither their tents, and pitch
them under the lofty trees. It has one draw-
back, however — that there is a good deal of
fever about the place, and the adjacent villages
of the district, which belong to a native chief,
are unhealthy.

We had now to mount a steep but short ghat,
our last, our way being through very thick
jungle. M. bade me remark the number of leaf-
less climbing plants, which she told me were
superb after the rains. "We traced the old
palanquin road which passed over the steepest
part of the hill, paved, and so narrow that no
wheeled carriage could have used it. At last
we began to descend. At our feet lay a great
plain, embraced by long low hills — fells, we
should have called them in the north of Eng-
land, overtopped towards the west by great
ghats, and they again by the peaks of a moun-
tain chain, bounded by the Portuguese territory,
which slopes down to the coast of Malabar.
We passed a village with an ancient domed
mosque and tanks, and a craggy hill, with a
ruined castle on its summit ; and then M.

176 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

pointed to a long dark line of wall, broken here
and there by a bulging battlemented tower,
over which waved a mass of rich green foliage.
The fort of Belgaum loomed larger and larger
out of the hot atmosphere as we gradually ap-
proached it. We crossed a deep fosse in which
the water shimmered, passed under a low gate-
way, flanked by bastions, curved between red
battlemented walls, plunged into the darkness
of the vaulted main guard, dimly visible by a
light which was suspended over the head
of a many-limbed divinity under a shrine,
and emerging near an extensive ruin, with
painted arches, passed a little green on which
stood a domed and minaretted tomb, turned
suddenly under shady trees, drew up under a
pillared portico, and I was welcomed to our
Indian home.

177

CHAPTER VIH.

Belgaum — Records and Traditions of the Fort — Stormed
by Mohammed Shah — Mahmoud Gavan — IsmaelKhan
Shah — KhoossanToork — Sevaji — Changes of Name and
Fortune— Besieged by a Force under General Monro
— Garrison at the Time of the Mutiny — Execution of
the Chief of Nargund — Description of the Fort — The
English Church — The Station Library — Favourite
Spots — Architecture of the Jaina Temples.

IN Mahratta, although there are many forts
which play a more important part in his-
tory than that of Belgaum, still its crumbling
walls, ancient sites, and picturesque ruins tell of
an eventful story, which is not without interest.
Placed upon no lofty plateau, and defending no
mountain pass, but situated in an obscure part
of Western India, it owed its former celebrity to
the fact of its being a border fortress, situated
amidst territories which were constantly at war
with one another, and frequently changing
masters. It derived not a little of its strength
from the deep jungle by which it was until
lately surrounded. The natives still consider
VOL. I. N

178 MY I EAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

Belgaum to be in the jungle, and within twenty
years bison have been shot close to the ramparts.

Tradition declares that the fort was founded
by a certain Jaina King called Jaza Rajah, who
built a large mud fort, surrounded by a ditch,
on the site of the existing fortifications, and the
existence within the enceinte of three Jaina
temples of great beauty and interest tends to
favour the idea. There is, however, no positive
record as to the foundation of the existing fort,
but we learn, from an inscription on copper, the
date of which is 1294, in which many names are
recorded, and which was found in the fosse, that
at one period a certain family, who were Jains,
held, for seven generations, the hereditary
chieftainship of Belgaum.

After this period we have more information
regarding the history of this place, for the dis-
trict is remarkably rich in inscriptions in the
Canerese character, beautifully cut in relief,
upon large slabs of a compact black basalt,
which takes a beautiful polish, and resists the
influence of the weather. Many petty wars,
and events of local interest, are recorded upon
these stones, but nothing of general interest
until the year 1472, when it is stated that
Belgaum fort was besieged by Mohammed Shah,

RECORDS OF BELGAUM. 179

the Mohamedan King of the Deccan. It must at
that time have been a place of strength, as it is
mentioned in history as being protected by-
strong towers and lofty walls, guarded by a
deep wet ditch, and by a pass near to it, the
only approach to which was fortified by re-
doubts. When Mohammed Shah set himself
down to subdue it, he commanded the fire
workers, as they valued their own safety, to
effect a particular breach in fourteen days, and
ordered his soldiers to throw quantities of wood
and earth into the ditch. The enemy in the night,
however, always removed them, upon which he
placed his guns in another position, but only
finally succeeded, by mining, in forming three
breaches. The troops of Birkana Ray, Rajah of
the fortress, advanced gallantly to defend the
place, and nearly two thousand of the king's
troops fell in the attempt to storm. The be-
sieged had nearly repaired the works with wood
and stones when the Shah, advancing to the
assault, drove the enemy before him, and gained
the ramparts. When opposition had ceased,
the King entered the citadel, and gave thanks
to God for the success of his arms. One of his
first acts was to expel the image of Dymavavera,
the tutelar goddess of the fort, but the sorrow-

N 2

180 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

ing Hindoos were allowed to place it in
a little temple outside the walls, which still
exists.*

The history of Belgaum remained intimately
connected with that of Bijipnr until the decline
of the Mussulman power in Western India, when
it relapsed into the hands of the Hindoo princes.
The king bestowed Belgaum and its depend-
encies upon Mahmoud Gavan, a very distin-
guished general, of royal blood, being connected
with the Shah of Persia. His career was one of
curious vicissitudes. He first served in the
Deccan, to which he came in the year 1461, and
where he was successful in many campaigns,
rendering his royal master great services, for
which he was made Governor of Bijipur, was
given a seat in the Council of Regency, and was
appointed a guardian of the young prince,
Nizam Shah. He also rose to the dignity of
Vizier, and distinguished himself at the siege of
Goa, but was finally murdered by Mohammed
Shah in 1481. He was very famous for his
learning, justice, and munificence, and left

* Once in every twelve years a great festival is held in
honour of Dymavavera, when buffaloes, sheep, and goats are
sacrificed to her. The slaughter takes place on a platform
outside the little pyramidal building erected to her. The
jubilee took place shortly after M.'s arrival in Belgaum.

ISMAEL KHAN SHAH. 181

behind him a library of three thousand volumes,
principally in the Persian language.

In the same year the Mussulman king again
visited Belgaum, probably for the purpose of
resuming his full authority over it. He in-
spected the city and examined the fortifications.
Thirty years of petty warfare ensued, and then
the golden age of the old fort commenced.

Ismael Khan Shah began his reign at Bijipur
in the year 1511, when he was a minor, and the
attempt at usurpation made by his guardian
was the means of bringing conspicuously for-
ward Khoossan Toork, a Persian, who, as he
took part in the deliverance of the young king,
was honoured with the title of Azad Khan, and
the Government of Belgaum was conferred upon
him. He was far the greatest man who ever
reigned over it ; and even to this day his name
is a household word among the people, who
love and revere his memory. It is to his wise
measures that the town has ever owed, and still
continues to owe, its comparative immunity
from cholera. He altered and repaired the walls
of the fortress, every inscription on which is in
the Persian character. He also erected a grand
palace, which, with its offices and stables,
covered a large space of ground. There are
existing records of the magnificence which he

182 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

maintained. His household servants — Geor-
gians, Circassians, Abyssinians, and Hindoos —
amounted to two hundred and fifty. He had
sixty large elephants, and one hundred and
fifty of a smaller size. In his stables were four
hundred and fifty Arabian horses, exclusive of
those of mixed breed foaled in India. Two
thousand seven hundred pounds of rice were
every day prepared for his household, in addi-
tion to fifty sheep, and one hundred fowls. It
was he who first introduced the fashion of wear-
ing the waistband of cloth of gold, and the
dagger, a custom which has since been adopted
by persons of rank in this country. He also
attempted to ride elephants with bridles instead
of managing them with the goad ; but as these
animals are rather unsteady, in consequence of
the sudden vicious starts to which they are
frequently prone, this mode of guiding them
was, according to the old chronicle, not found
to answer.

Years flew by, during which Azad Khan was
constantly at war, and proved himself a most
successful general, acquiring great riches, in the
form of gold, jewels, and elephants. On one
occasion, it is related that, after a battle, the
King of Bijipur presented him with five large
and six small elephants ; and at another time,

AZAD KHAN. 183

when he had taken a large quantity of baggage
and twenty elephants, the king gave him all
these animals but one, which he reserved for
himself, and called Alia Baksh (the Gift of God).
Towards the end of his life, when very ill, he
succeeded in frustrating the design of a neigh-
bouring chief, Nizam Shah, who had a great
wish to possess himself of Belgaum, with which
design he entrusted a large sum of money to a
Brahman, who was directed to employ it in
corrupting the soldiers of the garrison, in the
hope that they would deliver the fort into his
hands, in case of Azad's death. The Brahman
had nearly succeeded in his commission, when
the plot was discovered, and the chief agent in
it, in spite of his high caste, was put to death,
along with seventy of the soldiers whom he
had bribed. Old age having rendered Azad too
weak to contend with a deep-seated malady, he
prepared to meet death, and in lines (of
which the following is a translation), he en-
treated the King of Bijipur to honour him with
a farewell visit. "Come like the morning
breeze to the bower of friendship, Come like
the graceful cypress to the garden."

Ibraham assented to the request, and on his
arrival finding his old friend had breathed his
last, he administered consolation to his family

184 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

by attaching all the late Khan's estates and
treasures. The fine old chief died in the year
1549, having held Belgaum during thirty-three
prosperous years. He left a name not only
dear to his people, but celebrated in the history
of the period; and we have heard that his
standard, on which was embroidered an angry
lion, was bestowed as a great honour upon
Kishwar Khan.

In the year 1557, the treacherous King of
Bijipur lay on his death-bed. He had, on
religious grounds, quarrelled with both of his
sons, the eldest of whom, his heir, was under
surveillance in Miraj, whilst the youngest was
in confinement at Belgaum, under the charge
of Kishwar Khan, the governor, where, upon the
accession of his brother, he was still kept pri-
soner. Though treated with kindness and
generosity, he determined to rebel, and having
persuaded the governor and the garrison to
assist him, he took possession of the fort, and
raised the standard of rebellion, upon which a
renowned general, Elias Khan, was sent with
five thousand men to besiege the place. Great
confusion followed, and in order completely to
quell the insurrection, a further force of twenty
thousand horse and thirty thousand foot, was
sent against Belgaum, under Ein-ul-Mulk, who,

PRISONERS IN THE FORT. 185

treacherously pretending to be the friend of
the young prince, persuaded him to take the
field, with those who were willing to espouse
his cause, and march upon Bijipur. The un-
fortunate Ismael fell into the trap laid for him,
and was taken prisoner and executed. Nor did
it fare better with the double traitor, Ein-al-
Mulk, who was also put to death, his head
being sent to Bijipur, where, for a certain time,
it was exposed upon a pole in front of the
palace, and afterwards blown from a great
gun.

The next important prisoners confined in the
fort were the Portuguese ambassador and his
suite. About this time, in consequence of a
change of territory, Belgaum ceased to be a
frontier fort, and no particular mention of it
appears until 1673, when the renowned Sevaji,
with his famous light cavalry, swept down and
sacked both town and fort. At the fall of Biji-
pur, in 1688, the fort reverted to the Mahrattas,
and was in the possession of Aurangzib, second
son of the powerful Prince A'Zam, at which
period it acquired the name A'Zamnagar. After
the lapse of some years the name was changed
to Mustafabad, after a Kiledar who thoroughly
repaired and strengthened the ramparts ; and
this appellation it still retains.

186 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

One year after the battle of Kirhee, the Eng-
lish, under General Munro, marched against it.
He encamped near Sharpur, on the morning of
March 11th, 1818, with a comparatively insignifi-
cant force of native soldiers, and three troops
of His Majesty's twenty-second Light Dragoons,
a force so weak that it tended to confirm the
garrison, and the inhabitants of Belgaum and
Sharpur (who had a high opinion of the strength
of the fort), in the belief that it could not be
taken.

The English were unable to obtain accu-
rate intelligence as to the state of the ditch,
which was the great defence of the place,
otherwise the attack would not have been
made from the points selected. On the fif-
teenth, the fort was invested, but nothing par-
ticular occurred until the twentieth, when the
force marched to the north of the fort, and
encamped about two miles and a half from it.
On the twenty-second, the first battery opened
on the defences, and on the following day the
pioneers broke ground, and began opening
trenches. On the thirty-first, the magazine
belonging to one of the batteries, in which
there was a considerable amount of ammu-
nition, blew up. The garrison took immediate
advantage of this misfortune, and making a

CAPTURED BY GENERAL MUNRO. 18?

sally, succeeded in passing over the battery,
but were immediately repulsed. During the
following days such steady progress was made
by the English that on or about April 9th, the
Kiledar (acting governor) sent out a flag of
truce to propose terms, but General Munro did
not accept them. Next day all the batteries
kept up a heavy fire on the fort, and the
breach, though not exactly practicable, began to
have a more favourable appearance, in conse-
quence of which the Kiledar found himself under
the necessity of accepting the condition offered
by General Munro, which was that he should
give up possession of the gateway, the garrison
being allowed to march out with their arms and
private property. This they did on the follow-
ing day, to the number of one thousand six
hundred, having lost seventy men. The loss
of the besieging army amounted to twenty-
three killed and wounded. By the capture of
the fort, General Munro obtained possession of
thirty-six guns of large calibre, sixty smaller
guns, and numerous wall pieces, besides stores
of every sort.*

I never read the record from which this ac-

* The two breaches effected by the English were near
the main guard, and are plainly visible, "the masonry which
fills the gaps being still ungnawed by time.

188 MF YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

count is abstracted without mentally fighting
the battle of the fort, and wishing for the suc-
cess of its brave garrison. The fall of Belgaum
completed the conquest of the Peishwa's terri-
tory south of the Krishna. The breaking out
of the Mutiny found Belgaum garrisoned by
two native regiments, a battery of European
artillery, and the depot of an English regiment,
withdrawn to serve in Persia. The native
troops were believed to be ripe for revolt ; all
the European women and children were brought
into the fort, and the small English garrison
had good reason to take every measure to pro-
vide for their safety. The walls, which had
been somewhat neglected, were put in a state
of defence, the breaches were repaired, and the
artillery were quartered in the fort. It was
thought necessary to make an example of cer-
tain emissaries of the rebels, who were taken in
the act of corrupting the native soldiers, and
they were blown from guns. People have told
me that they stopped their ears in order to
deaden the horrible sound. Fortunately, no
actual outbreak took place here.

The year of the Mutiny is remembered with
horror by the natives in Belgaum, on account
of the execution of the Brahman chief of Nar-
gund, who was put to death for the cruel mur-

SITUATION OF THE FORT. 189

der of Mr. Manson, the deputy collector. Mr.
Manson had been sent to negotiate with him,
but having no escort, his palanquin was attack-
ed by order of the chief ; his bearers ran away,
and the unfortunate young gentleman was cut
and hacked to pieces. The chief of Nargund
was ignominiously hanged upon an elevated
spot, which still bears the name of the Brah-
man's Hill. I have met with many people who
still cherish the memory of Mr. Manson, who
was much beloved.

The fort of JBelgaum is situated in the midst
of an extensive undulating plain. As it now
stands, it forms an irregular oval, enclosed by
a deep ditch, still full of water, which is cut out
of a softish red stone, which hardens on being
exposed to the air. The exterior of the fort is
surrounded by a fine broad esplanade ; the re-
vetement rises about thirty-two feet above the
bottom of the ditch. The interior is level, and
extends about a thousand yards in length, by
eight hundred in breadth. The original en-
trance was made between two magnificent
battlemented bastions, which still exist, although
the gate, which once opened upon a bridge, has
been walled up. The present main gate, which
is a solid pile of building, is considered to be a
fine specimen of Indian architecture. There is

190 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

an open guard-chamber, with a groined roof,
which has once been ornamented by pendents,
and the exterior is elaborately decorated with
grotesque representations of animals and birds
(rather curious ornaments for a Mahomedan
building, but a Brahman architect is said to
have been employed). The effect has been
somewhat destroyed by time, and the frequent
application of various coats of colour ; but the
ostriches still run races, cats with open mouths
still conduct water from the roof, and one ele-
phant has been drinking for centuries out of
the same bottle. The little niches scattered
about, intended to receive lights, and slippers,
and water-bottles, are very graceful. The
shrine of the many-armed Durga, the goddess
of castles and of war, is an excrescence placed
in a corner by the Hindoos when they regained
the fortress. " Let not/' say the most ancient
laws of Manu, " foes hurt a king who has taken
refuge in his Durgar." The exterior of this
curious shrine is covered with richly-coloured
mythological figures. Some of the unpopular
gods, like the pictured celebrities of other na-
tions, have had their faces scratched out, and
their noses destroyed.

Passing under a lofty unguarded archway,
we reach the outworks, and then come to a fine

DESCRIPTION OF THE FORT. 191

gateway, with solid iron-plated doors, which
have once been thickly studded with iron
spikes, like those at Poonah, and with the same
intention. Under the arch is an inscription in
relief, sculptured in Persian characters, to the
following effect : " Jakub Ali Khan, who is a
joy to the heart, by whose benevolence the
world is prosperous, built the wall of the fort
from its base as strong as the barrier of Sicar-
dis." From every point of view these gates
and outworks present a most picturesque ap-
pearance. The fine red colour of the battle-
ments, the peeps obtained down into the deep
ditch, where the still water lies in shade, and,
like a black mirror, reflects the walls it protects,
and the tall palms which fringe its outer bank,
the mysterious light which gleams through the
fretwork in the doors enclosing the cruel god-
dess, all tend to give this spot a romantic charm
which I have rarely found equalled. It is most
beautiful by moonlight, but when fantastic sha-
dows are thrown around, it looks a weird place,
where one almost expects to see the tall forms
of long-dead warriors.

On the western side of the fort there is a
more modern egress, a substantial archway,
which is gained by a descending road, and a

192 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

sharp turn leads to a narrow causeway which
bridges the fosse. It is guarded only by low
loops of thick chain, attached to ricketty old
cannon, and I confess that in crossing it I have
often sat behind the fresh young Arabs with a
beating heart and closed eyes, thankful when
the sound of their hoofs on the hard road told
me that the dangerous spot was passed. The
walls of the fort are crowned by lofty scalloped
battlements, standing clear of one another, and
pierced with long loop-holes, just so wide as to
have admitted the muzzles of the old jangals
(literally teazers), which now lie rusting in the
arsenal.

The Station library was a charming retreat.
The books, which numbered nearly four thou-
sand, were arranged in cases which lined the
walls of the long low room, and reached up to
a ceiling which was supported by great time-
honoured beams of rough-hewn teak wood. In
olden days this house had been the residence of
the Kiledar. In its deep, shady verandah, set
with plants, it was twilight at noonday, but it
was a pleasant place, where one could just see
to read. It commanded a charming peep, be-
tween the boles of the peepul-trees, of the
ruined gateway where the Naubat played, and
through the deep, dark archway, to an ever-

GOTHIC CHURCH. 193

blooming garden, where, fanned by the gentle
breeze, the rich-hued blossoms, ever combining,
looked like the changing colours in a kaleido-
scope. Outside the arsenal the great guns and
pyramids of ball, as seen from our garden, were
picturesque objects. There was little to invite
attention in the interior of the building. Some
two years ago it contained a curious collection
of old native weapons, but they had been car-
ried off to Woolwich, or some other place.
Shreds of silk dangling disconsolately from bare
poles were all that remained of colours which
had fluttered over many a battle-field, and the
piles of rusty jangals lay in obscure corners — all
else was fresh, trim, and ready. Some of the long
corridors were paved with sections of petrified
palm work, the rings of which were so perfect
that with a little pains one might have de-
ciphered their age, and told which side of the
tree had received the warm rays of the rising-
sun. Though last, not least, I must make
mention of our little snug Gothic church. Its
cockney aspect presented a striking contrast to
the crumbling antiquities around, but the in-
terior was pretty and airy. There were a few
memorial tablets upon the walls, but none of
general interest, excepting that which recorded
the sad death of Mr. Manson. The edifice
VOL. I. 0

194 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

stood upon a small rnaidan, which G hired

for the benefit of his cattle, it being very de-
sirable to graze it down; for the long grass
served as cover for cobras, which more than once
were seen fighting by the assembling congrega-
tion.

Completely shut out from the exterior world,
there could not, to my mind, exist a more de-
lightful and romantic spot than that enclosed
by the old red walls. The grassy ramparts,
which are banked up until the rounded battle-
ments alone are visible, make a charming walk
which commands a panoramic view of the sur-
rounding country, of the undulating plain, with
its woods, cultivated fields, green pastures, and
little villages, sheltered by lofty mango-trees,
the distant mountains, the jungly hills, the roll-
ing downs, ever-changing, peaceful in the sun-
shine, purple and threatening in the storm. Not
even water was wanting to enhance the charms
of the landscape. The tank, in reality a lake
of some extent, lay glittering within a stone's
throw of the main gate. Banked up on one
side by a lofty wall with a stone coping, it was
otherwise at liberty to lie at rest, calm and blue,
or to swell out into a turbid inland sea, specked
with unfamiliar islands. At morn and eve the
tank was a busy scene. I had favourite nooks

CHEVALIER BATTERY. 195

from which I often watched the great herds of
cattle which were brought up to water. The
buffaloes delighted in their early bath, and waded
about with just their noses out of the refreshing
element. They are docile creatures, obedient
to their owner's call, not half so difficult to
manage as the fierce little untameable cows.
Serene-looking bullocks drank, and gazed about
them, and drank again. Some pet animal was
readily distinguished by its brass collar, garland
of flowers, or necklace of cowrie shells, put on
to ensure good luck. Occasionally a great black
elephant came slowly down, and dabbled its
" lotus feet " in the water, whilst it was scrubbed
by its driver. One of these sagacious crea-
tures had a curious trick of bending its ears
forward with its trunk, in order that the skin
behind might come in for its share of the
washing. Camels came striding down in long
file, they alone looking discontented, for not
even the cool morning's draught could please
these peevish creatures.

Another favourite resting-place was the top
of the flag-staff, or Chevalier battery, a strong-
hold built by Azad Khan, within the walls, but
towering far above them. From its summit the
flag with the angry lion had floated for many
a year. It was a delightful spot at the hour of

02

196 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

sunset, when the western sky was flooded with
amber or rosy red, and the mala was heard from
the minaret of the musjid in the Durga camp,
in which the old Khan's bones repose, calling
the faithful to prayer. While the cattle slowly
crossed the plain to their rest, and the short
twilight deepened, ghostly bands of white-
robed people would glide along, and disappear
beneath the deep shade of the mango-trees.
Occasionally a procession might be seen return-
ing from some ceremony, the shrill notes of the
musicians toned down by distance, and red-
robed women, bearing fire in their brass
vessels, on their way to some time-honoured
temple. How beautiful must this plain have
been when covered up to the very foot of the
distant hills with a waving sea of green, a jungle
of palms, and bananas, and bamboos ! Many a
time have I lingered, until suddenly it was dark,
and I had to descend and cross the pathless
grass, in mental fear of the snakes. There is
a tradition that three hundred and sixty Jaina
temples were pulled down, in order to supply
materials for building the present walls of the
fort.

This part of the Deccan was once the head-
quarters of that curious sect whose habit it was
to build their temples, which are not very large,

ORNAMENTATION OF THE TEMPLES. 197

near together. There is no doubt that almost
all of the immense blocks of stone which have
carving upon them, and which are built into the
walls irregularly, and without design to adorn,
are of Jaina origin. Their style of ornamenta-
tion is very peculiar, and cannot, when one once
becomes familiar with it, be mistaken. t There are
long narrow stones, strips of friezes or cornices,
with stiff-pointed lotus-flowers cut upon them
(the stiff-cut lotus of Indian art does not
mean to imitate Nature ; it is merely used as a
symbol of the power of those kings who ruled
over countries where the lotus grew) ; and others
upon which musicians, playing upon such in-
struments as are still in use, pipe to dancing
women with distorted bodies and light drapery.
They are covered with bracelets and bangles,
and long rows of beads hang from their necks ;
thesebands are generally grouped between pillars,
such as now serve for gate-posts at almost
every bungalow in the fort. Some of the carved
divinities are seated in rows, with animals at
their feet ; some are well-proportioned, and cut
in high relief; others are rude, and rendered
almost undecipherable by time. Long after I
imagined myself to be acquainted with every
piece of sculpture around, I came upon bits which

198 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

were new to me — stones which had been hidden
away by tall balsams, or bushes of the many-
hued lantana (wild sage). One magnificent
stream of the black-stemmed giant maidenhair
fern died down and disclosed the figure of an
elephant, with a chain round the body, which
was in the act of treading a man to death,
representing, it may be, some act of vengeance
which had taken place near this very spot.
From many a corner the hooded head of
a cobra, once worshipped, peeped through the
long grasses. Another curious study was fur-
nished by the monumental stones, which are
supposed to have been erected to the memory
of warriors slain in battle. They are divided
into three or more compartments. The lowest
part of one, which is in the fort, represents a
fight, in which a soldier is attacked by armed
men and slain. In the next compartment
nymphs are bearing him on high, whilst above
he is seen worshipping the Linga. Upon a
second stone the hero is represented curvetting
along upon his steed, with his sword-bearer in
advance. The middle one pictures the deceased
man rising with extended arms, whilst the fore-
finger of a gigantic hand points to the skies.
In the third compartment there is a bust of the
warrior, by the side of which a kneeling figure

THE ANCIENT WALLS. 199

worships the Linga. Numbers of these me-
morials (all relating to war) lie scattered about
the whole district, and it is a pity that they are
not removed to some place of safety, and that
no endeavour is made to collect any legends
attached to them. In all probability the stories
they picture have been gathered into the chants
and songs of the people.

It would be tedious to dwell upon the sculp-
tured objects which ornament the ancient walls
rising up in every compound, cropping out of
the loose stone walls which surround them, and
peeping from the very ditches — gods and pirates,
dancing women and shrined ascetics, beautiful
tracery and grotesque animals, jostling one
another in strange confusion. Doubtless our
feet have passed over many a hidden treasure.
The fort of Belgaum is indeed a glorious place
for those who love old stones.

200

CHAPTER IX.

Sect of the Jains — Their Opinions — Jaina Saints — Archi-
tecture of the Jain Temples — Sena Rajah — Legends —
Decoration of the Hall — Ornaments in Sculpture —
Shrines — Spacious Dome — Dedication Plate — The
Sacred Cell — The Second Temple — English Indiffer-
ence to the Antiquities of the Country — The Musjid
Safa — Concealed Treasure — Curious Relic — Memorials
of the Past.

BEFORE attempting to describe the peculiar
style of the Jaina temples, it may not be
amiss to say a few words respecting the reli-
gious opinions of the sect by whom they were
built, which at one time bade fair to strangle
Brahmanism, and to become dominant through-
out India. The followers of Jainism, which seems
to have risen upon the ruins of Buddhism, were
probably seceders from that religion, which had
become corrupt; and it is not unlikely that
their desire was to return to some older faith
upon which Buddhism itself was founded.*

* It is curious to remark in Eastern religions how fre-
quently the grotesque borders on the sublime. According

THE JAINS. 201

The Jains deny the divine origin of Sakya
Sinha (Bnddha), whom, however, they deified
after death, believing him to have been a most
holy man, whose mission it was, not to found a
new religion, but to reform the abuses which
had crept into one already existing.

The Jains are equally sceptical with regard
to Brahmanism, for they deny the divine origin
of the Vedas. They abhor the Homa, or burnt
sacrifice, so dear to the other Hindoos, alleging
that everything thus consumed contains animal
life, for which they have the most exaggerated
respect.* The Jain priest walks about with a

to the Singhalese belief, their great teacher, Buddha, died
of eating pork. " Buddha, with a large company of dis-
ciples, came to Kusinagara, in Gorakpur, and encamped in
the mango garden of one Chunda, a smitb. The worthy-
smith meant to be hospitable, and served up pork. It was
too much for the worn-out frame of the hoary sage.
Diarrhsea ensued, he travelled a short distance, with fre-
quent stoppages, but at last being unable to proceed, a
temporary couch was provided for him in a shadowy grove.
A message of comfort was sent to the poor smith, the princes
of Malwa were summoned, and having made them a long
speech, he ceased to exist."

* The orthodox Hindoo has also a great horror of taking
animal life. " He is taught that God inhabits even an
insect ; but it is no great crime if he should permit his cow
to die of hunger ; and he beats it without mercy. It is
enough that he does not really deprive it of life, for the in-
dwelling Brumhu feels no shock but that of death. For

202 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

cloak over his mouth, lest he should swallow
small insects, and carries a broom, in order to
eject them from the spot on which he chooses to
sit. Another tenet which distinguishes them
from the rest of the Hindoos, is the worship
which they pay to a certain number of Jinas,
or deified teachers, who they imagine have, by
constant deeds of mortification and self-in-
flicted torment, attained a station superior to
that of the gods. " The Jains enumerate by
name the twenty-four of the past age, the
twenty-four of the present, and the twenty-four
of the age to come." A Jaina saint is called
Lord of the World, Omniscient, God of Gods —
all sorts of transcendent names are bestowed
upon him. He has certain superhuman attri-
butes— beauty of form, fragrance of body,
the white colour of his blood, the curling of his
whiskers, the non-increase of the beard and
nails, his exemption from all natural impurity,
from hunger and thirst, from infirmity and
decay, and so on through a long list.

The back of his head is surrounded by a
halo of light, brighter than the disk of the sun,
and for an immense space around him. Where-
killing a few small insects an orthodox Hindoo must
repeat an incantation while squeezing his nose with his
fingers."

LITERATURE OF THE JAINS. 203-

ever be moved there is neither sickness nor
enmity, death nor war. The Jain reformers in
the early stage of their history were austere in
their lives, and practised, as well as inculcated,
self-denial. Their zeal was great, and their re-
jection of the Brahmanical system of caste
drew multitudes after them. The countless
temples scattered throughout the land bear
silent witness to the power they attained, and
their peculiar ideas are wrought upon the stones
of many an ancient building which knows
them no more. Jainism itself became in time
corrupt, and the more attractive creed of the
wily Brahman ultimately prevailed. The sect
now numbers but a few hundred thousand
disciples, who are chiefly to be found in the west
of India.

The Jains have an extensive and independent
literature of their own, but do not profess to
have any inspired writings. They are among the
very few Orientals who have adopted any sort
of armorial bearings. With regard to their
architecture, it must be borne in mind that
neither they nor the other Hindoos have any
form which is not derived from that of the
Buddhists. The oldest remains in the fort are
the three Jaina temples, which are very curious
and beautiful. Many a time have I pictured to

204 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

myself the sacred ceremonies which must have
attended the foundation of these temples of an
ancient creed. In a very ancient Hindoo trea-
tise upon architecture, of which only fragments
remain, very specific directions are given as to
the manner of preparing the ground for the
erection of a temple. " It is to be ploughed — the
form, material, size, and construction of the
plough are prescribed, even the oxen that are
to drag it are selected with due reference to
their age, shape of horns, &c. The maimed,
the weak, the meagre, the toothless, or the lame,
must be rejected, while those with a white spot
on their legs and foreheads, with eyes resem-
bling the petals of the lotus, are to be
preferred. They are to be decorated with
fillets and other ornaments, their horns and
hoofs with gold and silver rings. The architect,
clad in fresh vestments, and adorned with chap-
lets of flowers, having ascertained the auspicious
moment for the duty, draws the first furrow
with due religious ceremonies. The ground is
sown with sesamum seeds, pulse, and kidney
beans, incantations are repeated, and oxen
and ploughs are presented to the spiritual
teacher. When the crops are matured they
are grazed by cows for one or two nights, and

ANCIENT INSCRIPTION. 205

thus purified, the ground is ready for the future
temple."

The mode, it is remarked, for ascertaining the
cardinal points is striking and correct, and in
principle the same as that adopted by Euro-
peans, when they wish to ascertain a meridian
line.*

On a copper-plate found near one of the tem-
ples was engraved the name and titles of the
Rajah who erected it, as well as some particu-
lars relating to his family. Some of the most
interesting sentences run as follows :

"I adore Svarti and Siva Buddha, the pre-
server and supporter of the Jaina religion,
who has brought under his rule the Devatas,
the Cow Kamdheuna, has conquered the three
passions, the soul of his disciples, whose breast
is vast comprehension .... Great among all
kings, who, conquering all princes, established
his throne firmly ; such was Sena Rajah. His
son was Kartaviry, the great, the powerful, the
possessor of all virtues, the renowned. His
spouse was the beautiful Padmalla-Devi, orna-
mented with virtues. Her son was called
Lakshmi-Bhee-Pati, he was to his father and
mother a " Here follow the names of many

* " The Land of the Veda," by the Rev. Peter Percival.

206 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

gods and warriors — "superior even to these,
of higher merit. His wife, Chandala-Devi, had
two sons of valour and liberality. Into the
mind of this Rajah it entered to perform what
would make him renowned among those of this
world. In full enjoyment of his kingdom, when
residing at Venegrama" (Belgaum), "in peace
and happiness, he caused to be erected a temple,
in which were installed I're Santnatha Deva,
and the protectors of the eight priests ;" for
the maintenance of whom, and the expenses of
their annual festival, offerings are appointed to
be made.

Jaina temples are built according to a general
plan, which is seldom varied. There is a square
hall, or naos, generally open at the sides, an
inner sala, or chamber, an oblong ante-chamber
and a small square cell, in which the idol sits
enthroned. When perfect, it is believed that
every one of these erections was enclosed by an
oblong court, with pillared colonnades, set with
long rows of shrines, in which were standing
Jains, or squatted Buddha-like figures. With
the exception of the colonnades, one of the
temples in the fort is quite perfect, and is con-
sidered to be a fine specimen of its kind of
architecture. A few observations respecting its
decorations, as illustrating the religious notions

STRUCTURE OF A JAINA TEMPLE. 207

of the sect, if not very interesting to the general
reader, may be tolerated for their bearing on
the subject of which we treat.

A flight of steps leads up to the hall, which is
partially enclosed by a long but strong balus-
trade, and roofed in by an expansive dome
of great beauty. Circle after circle of concave
lotus-flowers reach to its centre, from which
hangs a magnificent pendant of four decreasing
layers of lotus-flowers and leaves, a foot apart
from one another, and terminated by one large
blossom. The weight of such an ornament could
only be supported in a dome so built that the
pressure is horizontal instead of perpendicular.
Externally, this dome is covered in by a high
pyramidal stepped roof, the front of each step
being sculptured with the sharp-cut lotus-pat-
tern. The weight of this double roof must be
prodigious, though it is apparently borne by an
insignificant number of pillars of no great size ;
but relief is obtained from a characteristic em-
ployment of dwarf pillars, set upon the balus-
trades by a system of bracketing. Some of the
pillars are made of compact black basalt, highly
magnetic, finely polished, and unusual in form ;
others are of the description generally employed
by the Jains, of which there are hundreds scat-
tered about Belgaum and its immediate neigh-

208 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

bom-hood, tall shafts of stone, with four equal
sides, ornamentally carved. Posts are cut into
sharp rings of unequal size, separated by a
cable pattern, and occasionally these circles are
divided by a wedge-shape piece of the original
surface, pointed upwards. Sometimes a smooth
block of stone is left, and so delicately engraved
with rich arabesques that the patterns almost
appear to have been taken from needlework, the
embroidered strips of stone being finished off
by looped fringes of hearts and heads. Some-
times the loops are trebled, and have tassels
in the centre. These designs are very elegant.
The roof of the Sala is flat, except in the
very centre, where it is raised by a curious
process. In the middle of the chamber four
pillars, some five feet apart, support architraves
and narrow cornices, leaving a square space,
which has been diminished by two layers of
overtopping corner-stones, until it could have
been covered by a single flag. Should this
have been the case, the room must have been
in total darkness when the door giving upon
the hall was closed. From immediately under
the aperture something has evidently been re-
moved, as the earth is exposed. Perhaps some
inferior god occupied the spot, and received the
passing homage of the devotees, as they passed

DOME AND HALL. 209

round it on their way to the cell. It was not
judged respectful to approach the idol in a
straight line.

The hall is decorated with superb and cha-
racteristic sculpture. I have noticed the beauty
of the dome, but not that of the octagonal cor-
nice on which it rests. In each division, carved
in high relief, are five shrines, with stepped
roofs, in every one of which squats a cross-
legged, Buddha-like figure,* while between each
shrine, and under a canopy, stands an upright
naked man. These figures evidently represent
the seventy-two deified Jains of the past, the
present, and the future. In each angle of the
octagon is a bracket, on which is placed the
figure of a divinity, probably " the protectors
of the eight points " referred to in the dedica-
tion plate. Round the spring of the dome
eight great beasts, with chains round their
stout bodies, jut forth ; their faces have been
smashed away by the Mahomedan Iconoclasts.
They are most likely but the ornamented ends
of supports necessary to the structure. All the
doorways, and many other parts of the temple,
are minutely and beautifully carved with gro-
tesque gods and mythical animals, which peep

* The figure of Buddha himself is generally represented
with fingers and toes of equal length.

VOL. I. P

210 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

over the flowers, and sport in the foliage of
sacred plants.

The sculpture in the Sala is evidently of an
inferior order, and is chiefly remarkable for the
frequent introduction of the hooded cobra, life-
size, which forms the brackets, and twines round
the tops of the pillars. In this room there are
four large un ornamented niches, and two square
recesses, which can be closed by sliding stones,
in which very likely the sacred vessels were
kept.

The oblong vestibule is perfectly plain.
Both it and the cell are in darkness. Not
only is a light necessary for investigation,
but for safety, as real cobras have been seen
gliding about in the corners. In my frequent
visits I was always armed with a candle and a
stick.

The once sacred cell is very curious. The
image is gone, but there stands the throne on
which its cold limbs once rested. (It was pro-
bably a cross-legged, Buddha-like figure.) The
platform, which is oblong, cut into angles, and
ornamented by zigzag mouldings, is placed upon
two elephants, the eyes of which, made of some
semi-transparent stone, still glitter, although
they have looked only upon darkness for centu-
ries. At the back is the tasseled cushion which

SACRED CELL. 211

the Jains have always placed behind their
idols. Although formed of black basalt, it has
a look of wrinkled softness, as if the god had
been sufficiently human to bend his back and
seek occasional repose. On each side sprang
up the stem of a tree, which diapered the wall
with strange flowers, sharp-pointed leaves set
into circles, from the midst of which depended
long bunches of weeds. It was some time be-
fore I discovered that this tracery was populated
by bands of sculptured monkeys, not an inch in
length ; and in one place appeared a mysterious
arm and hand, beating a drum. It was very
strange. The screen was stained by the smoke
of incense ; and though smoke be fleeting, its
traces are eminently suggestive. The cell has
a steep-stepped roof, which, according to the
universal plan, must have been surmounted by
a spire. It contains a chamber, but as it can
now only be reached by means of along ladder,
I never explored it, nor did I ever meet with
anyone who had made the ascent. I believe
that some way to it exists in the thickness of
the wall. I never visited this temple without
making some new and interesting discovery.

Of the second temple, an enclosed hall, with
flights of steps which lead up to a narrow
portico, alone remain. The exterior is much

p2

212 MY 1EAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

ornamented with rows of dancing figures,
musicians, and sharp-cut flowers. Mr. Burgess
considers this remnant to be a remarkably fine
specimen of Jain architecture ; and I congratu-
late myself in having been instrumental in pro-
longing its existence. The treacherous roots
of two fig-trees of considerable growth, which
had fixed themselves firmly upon the roof, had
already overturned at least a ton of beautifully
sculptured stones, when, in consequence of a
piteous appeal to the proper authorities, they
were removed. The neglected state of this
building is one of a thousand instances of Eng-
lish indifference respecting the antiquities of a
country which we occupy — indeed, it owes its
very existence to the unromantic fact that it
is used as a Government store-house for beer-
barrels.

The third temple, judging from the size of
the hall, which alone remains, and the splendid
sculpture with which it is adorned, must have
been the most important of the three. The
vicissitudes of its latter days are curious. Some
years ago the part that at present remains was
built into a bungalow. What a cool and mag-
nificent centre apartment must it have made
with its lofty dome and wide portals ; but
this phase of its existence was a short one.

THE MUS JID S AF A . 213

Belganm ceased to be a division, and the
general and his staff no longer inhabited
the fort. The anxious year of the Mutiny
wrought other changes, and the house, with all
its charms, its unrivalled hall, its extensive gar-
den, the pride of the place, and its stately
avenue of palms, was deserted, to be turned by
Government into a patchery, or quarters for
married soldiers. The old Jaina remains are
shunned by the soldiers' wives, as they do not
like their gloomy obscurity even by day. Its
grim black carving would look weird indeed
by the glimmer of a single lamp. The women
even imagine the bedrooms above, which circle
round the dome, to be haunted, and refuse to
sleep in them. I am not quite sure that the
place would be agreeable to many by moon-
light, for I share Madame de StaeTs ideas with
regard to ghosts : " Je n'y crois pas, mais je les
crains."

In the arsenal stands the Musjid Safa, the
fine mosque, which was the old Khan's gift to
the fort he loved so well. A Persian inscrip-
tion, finely cut in relief, is placed above the
great door. " In the time of Adil Azam, son of
Adzil Khan, a man of high rank, who bore the
palm of excellence from all the world, of good
counsel, the aim of merit, the defender of the

214 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

faith, who utterly uprooted the unbeliever from
the country of theDeccan ; Azid Khan, the best
of upright men, built this house of God, and good
fortune, and with much labour. By the grace
of God we call it ' the pure mosque/ (Musjid
Safa) ; and the lustre of the religion bf the Pro-
phet grew greater." It is a fine building, with
stately minarets. Daylight is admitted to the
interior by means of openings cut in the form
of intricate geometrical patterns, pierced in thin
slabs of stone. In front of the edifice is a tank,
in the middle of which stands a ruined fountain.
Affixed to the eastern wall of the mosque is a
small square platform, which was used by the
Khan for the gymnastic exercises, in which he
excelled. It is said that he could jump upon
it weighted with shoes made of lead and iron,
which are still preserved in the building, along
with his quilted sabre-proof vest. His sword
was stolen from the temple by a soldier just
before the Mutiny.

Up to the time of the Mutiny,, the Musjid was
open for worship, but the Mahomedans availed
themselves of its shelter, in order to plot trea-
son against the English, and for years since
that time it has remained closed. The murder-
ous designs of the plotters were discovered.
There are, or ought to be, three keys to the

A PERIODICAL CUSTOM. 215

great padlock which secures the entrance. One
of them was delivered over to the safe keeping
of some English official, who lost it, another to
the head Mola in the town of Belgaum, and the
third was committed to the care of the head
priest in Kolhapur.

One day, however, we were informed by a
friend that an application, on the part of the
Mussulman population, had passed through his
office, praying that they might be allowed to
resume a periodical custom, which had been
suspended, an occasion on which the head Mola,
key in hand, mounted upon a camel, and head-
ing a procession, had been wont to enter the
mosque, and repeat a certain form of prayer.
Permission was granted, and everyone near the
arsenal was on the tip-toe of expectation — even
the old Scotch superintendent of the stores was
thrown into a state of excitement. " 'Deed,
ma'am," he said, " all the years that I have been
here I have never been inside the mosque, and
I would like to see the Khan's golden chair."
A golden chair, that was a new and delightful
feature in the cave. We kept the orderlies upon
the look-out, and with heated faces they ran to
and fro, bearing the latest news. •' The briga-
dier in person was coming ; the procession was
to enter the fort at six o'clock precisely; a

216 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

native company "with colours had arrived." We
stood in the garden ready to start. Bullock-
carts came hurrying up, laden with men in
resplendent turbans of red and gold, and gold
and green ; and crowds of white-robed pedes-
trians, with bags full of flowers under their arms,
began to assemble round the Musjid. The
clock struck six, and the sound was followed by
intense excitement. Then there was a long
pause. Was it possible that the people were
•silently melting away? Improbable as it ap-
peared, it was too true. There could be no
ceremony now — the second key was lost. We
afterwards heard considerable indignation ex-
pressed at the idea of allowing the false Maho-
medans ever again to set foot in the mosque ;
but that was by people who remembered with a
shudder the anxiety of that period, when the
troops were known to be wavering.

The natives have a tradition, to which they
give full credit, respecting a secret passage,
which, they affirm, leads from under the Musjid
to the Dhers' (a very low caste) well, a mile and
a half away. Why it should be supposed to ter-
minate at that particular spot, 1 know not ; but
there is no doubt that some concealed way does
exist between the fort and the open country.

The people have also a firm belief in the ex-

CURIOUS RELIC. 217

istence of a concealed treasure, which they sup-
pose to be buried near the building, but do not
concern themselves much respecting it, as they
imagine it to be guarded by gnomes, or malig-
nant spirits, who would cruelly kill anyone who
attempted to take possession of it. There is no
doubt that a considerable quantity of jewels,
gold, and silver, was either smuggled away or
buried in the fort, when it was surrendered to
the English. Sums of money have more than
once been granted by Government for the insti-
tution of a search, but as yet nothing has been
found. The quantity of money concealed in the
earth by the Indian people was one reason why
gold was withdrawn from the currency. When
a jewel robbery occurs, the police immediately
repair to the dwellings of suspected parties, and
water the floors of the houses and grounds about
them, a sure way, in this climate, of ascertaining
if the soil has been recently disturbed.

I must mention a most curious relic which
lies within the arsenal. It is a block with three
legs, exactly resembling an ordinary butcher's
block. It is cut in one piece out of hard iron-
stone, and its weight must be prodigious. On
one of the legs there is an appearance which
seems to indicate that it terminated in a claw.
In the centre of the block there is a round hole,

218 MY TEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

large enough to allow the head of a goat to
pass through it. Solid as is the substance, it is
much corrugated by time, for it has every ap-
pearance of being wonderfully old. Some
people suppose it to have been a sacrificial
table, used by the aboriginal tribes who inhabited
the deep jungles, which, until an almost recent
period, covered this part of the Deccan.

One of the most interesting ruins of the Ma-
homedan period existing in the fort is a ruined
gateway of great size, under which passed the
road that led from the main gate to the palace.
The fine pointed archway, with battlemented
top, is flanked by wings set with smaller arches.
On its summit the naubat, a large kettle-drum,
was struck at stated hours, and on it salutes
were played. Not less time-hallowed and sug-
gestive of the period, is a beautiful tomb, with
dome and minarets, which, shaded by lofty
trees, stands on a little maidan, or green, close
to our domain. Elegant little memorial stones,
wrought with verses from the Koran, in Persian
characters, are scattered around it. Would
that I could have painted some of the pictur-
esque figures which I have seen grouped about
this spot. One scene is particularly impressed
upon my memory. The sky was intensely blue,
all around was bathed in such glorious sunshine

RUINED GATEWAY. 219

as brings happiness with it. I looked up from
my book. A large black elephant, munching
its sugar-cane breakfast, stood in relief against
the tender grey walls of the mosque tomb. Its
driver, a wild-looking being, with streaming
locks, was leaning upon his goad, whilst over-
head a golden nikure, one mass of flame-
coloured flowers, relieved with feathery foliage
of leaden green, threw out its horizontal limbs,
and formed a right royal canopy. Sometimes a
pilgrim from over the sea, with staff in hand,
long rows of beads which had been blessed at
Mecca, and flowing beard of orange tinge, would
steal into the shade, mutter a short prayer over
the bones of the saint whose fame had reached
his ears, and pass on his restless way. In mo-
ments of idle reverie, I used to think what a
Paradise I could make of the old fort, if it were
my own property, and suddenly wake up to
the conviction that the improver's hand would
but destroy what, in its present state of partial
decay and neglect, is ideally perfect.

220

CHAPTER X.

Trees in the Fort — Consecration of Trees — The Banyan-
Tree — A Patriarch of the Forest — Peepul-Trees —
The India-Rubber Tree — Ficus Glomerata — Strange
Peculiarity of Plants — Lofty Cotton-Tree — The Ja-
inun — The Champai — The Cocoa-Nut Palm — The
Soap-Nut Tree — Sandal- Wood Tree — Acacia Arabica,
or Babool of India — The Golden Mhune — Eucalypti.

WE had in the fort a great variety of fine
timber-trees and beautiful shrubs. Some
of them, which were rare in this part of the
Deccan, had been brought to the little oasis, and
assiduously cultivated in its golden age. In
India the ramifications of certain vegetable
families appear to be interminable. It is only
possible to notice a few of the most prominent
specimens. Having plenty of time at my dis-
posal, I amused myself with preparing a collec-
tion of leaves and flowers for a sister at home.
Had I commenced with a fair knowledge of
botany, I should have derived much more
pleasure from the pursuit ; but even learning a

BANYAN-TREE. 221

few of their properties, and the native legends
attaching to them, was entertaining.

Trees are worshipped by the Hindoos, as the
forms of particular gods. They receive divine
honours, and are set apart with the same cere-
monies as are common at the setting up of the
gods. Any individual who consecrates a tree
says, " Oh ! Vishnu," or " Shiva, grant that for
planting this tree I may continue as many
years in Heaven as this tree shall remain grow-
ing in the earth. Grant that as I have set
apart this tree to afford shade to my fellow-
creatures, so after death I may not be scorched
by excessive heat when I journey to Yama, the
region of death." There are six trees which
are particularly sacred, and are never cut down
or burnt by devout Hindoos — namely, ficus
Indica, mimusops elengi, terminalia citrina,
philanthus emblica, melia azodaracta, ogle
marmelos ; most of which bear odoriferous
flowers.

The most sacred of them all is the banyan
(ficus Indica), of which we had a noble speci-
men. Its furrowed bole was composed of many
stems, welded together ages ago ; and its top
formed a vault of verdure. This tree appeared
to have long lost its tendency to throw down
aerial roots, which had most likely been cut

222 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

£,way, possibly by the conquering Mussulmans,
for no Hindoo would thus have maimed the tree.
The banyan attains great length of days, one
being pointed out near the Nerbuddha, under
the shade of which Alexander is said to have
slept. It may be so, for according to some
botanists these, and other patriarchs of the
forests, are but aggregates of buds annually
succeeding on the stem, which represents a
living soil. Savants even go so far as to say
that in the wilds of Africa there are trees
which are five thousand years old. The wood
is very astringent, and much used in Hindoo
medicine ; and its soothing juice is said to be
good for the toothache. It is also made into
bird-lime. Nor must we forget that, according
to Milton, this was the fig which grew in Para-
dise, the leaves of which were also taken to
clothe our first parents. We had also the
child-bearing fig (also ficus lndicd) the aerial
roots of which were less decided and not so
numerous as those of the banyan. The women
worship it, and eat the berries with which its
tender branches are studded, as round as mar-
bles, and as red as coral.

Set down amongst the scattered foundations
of some building which probably they had been
instrumental in destroying, were a row of pee-

INDIA-RUBBER TREE. 223

pul-trees (jicus religiosa), the roots of which
are very destructive, if once they attain a foot-
ing in the chinks of masonry. It is an exceed-
ingly sacred tree, and is to be found fenced round
by a platform in every Hindoo village. Women
especially venerate it, because they believe that
Vishnu was born under its shade. Beneath it
they perform the ceremonies succeeding child-
birth ; and they use its sticky juice for smooth-
ing their hair. It attains a great height, but
the foliage is quivering, and not effective.
Though the leaf is pretty in its bright green
youth, it soon assumes a dull tint. It is heart-
shaped, and the mid rib is prolonged into a
softish spike, which extends a couple of inches.
The wood yields caoutchouc. In Ceylon it is
called the bo-tree. Sir Emmerson Tennant
mentions one which, on documentary evidence,
he believes to have been planted two hundred
and twenty-eight years before Christ. The
Buddhists adore this tree, as they believe that
their great teacher, Sakiya, was reclining under
it when he underwent his apotheosis. The
most aspiring of all the tribe is the india-rub-
ber tree (Jicus elastica), with its long glossy
leaves and crimson capsules. It was strange,
whilst looking up at its gigantic limbs, to recall
the little plants of the same description, fur-

224 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

nisbed with half a dozen leaves, often so care-
fully tended in England; still the great rosy-
shoots had a familiar appearance. One of the
remarkable points of this tree is its manner of
throwing out prodigiously long spurs, which
stretch along the ground in ridges of more than
a foot in height.

The ficus glomerata was another very con-
siderable tree, which bore a profusion of fruit,
in appearance much resembling the small Eng-
lish fig ; but though its flavour is unpleasant, it
is eaten by the natives. In the bearing season
it gives forth a strong, sickly perfume, which
is most disagreeable.

There were numbers of tamarind-trees, par-
ticularly two giants in our own garden. The
skeleton bears some resemblance to that of a
large elm, but as if for the sake of contrast, its
gnarled and far-stretching limbs are clothed
with leaflets of the most delicate fern and
tenderest green, fine as those of a sensitive plant,
which they much resemble. The huge corru-
gated bole teems with animal life, and its lofty
crown is the delightful abode of numerous birds,
whilst orchids and ferny plants cling to the
rough bark, and plant themselves in its inter-
stices. The blossom is insignificant, and the
pod is many months before it reaches maturity.
The wood is beautiful, but it is not often

THE TAMARIND-TREE. 225

used by cabinet-makers, for its exceeding hard-
ness makes it difficult to work. It yields a gum
called kuteera. The bole is often hollow, which
I should not have observed, had I not occasion-
ally seen trees pierced by neatly scooped little
arches, which allowed the eye to penetrate into
their interior. This was the work of the Hin-
doos, who enthroned their divinities within
them. I could not but picture to myself the
strange appearance which the copper idol, sur-
rounded by lights and garlanded with flowers,
would present, squatting in this shrine of
Nature's own handiwork. That curious pheno-
menon, the sleep of plants, was first observed in
India in the tamarind-tree, by Garcias de Horto,
in 1567, but it was not understood until de-
monstrated by Linnaeus. The natives have an
idea that the tamarind renders the neighbour-
hood of the spot where it grows unwholesome,
but many plants which we planted about its
roots grew luxuriantly.*

* Plants are very innocent, and easily taken in. By
throwing a bright light upon those of a sensitive nature
during the night, and placing them in darkness during the
day, the botanist, Decandolle, succeeded in changing
their habit so far that they closed up their leaflets, and
slept the sunny hours away, while they opened them to the
artificial light thrown upon them, when others of their kind
were slumbering.

VOL. I. Q

226 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

The tree which was our boast, in point of
height, was a cotton-tree, said to be the tallest
for miles around. When first I saw its ungrace-
ful limbs they were bare ; the cylindrical bole had
a smoothish bark, thickly studded with sharp
thorns, broad at the base, and nearly an inch
long. Nature had taken extra care to guard
its produce. The great blood-red flowers came
forth with a glow of colour, but the blossom,
pulpy and coarse, will not bear examination.
The long thick pod, which in due time burst
and poured forth an amazing quantity of soft,
silky, cream-coloured cotton, appeared to be
composed of a flat circular membrane, with a
tiny hole in the centre, from which a seed had
fallen ; but it was not easy to capture this sub-
stance, which was so light that it fled before
the outstretched hand. The hedges and fields
were covered so thickly with it that they
looked as if the old woman had been plucking
geese for a month. This cotton is unfortunately
too short in the stopple to be worked up, and is
therefore of very little value — a remark which
is equally applicable to many other cotton-pro-
ducing shrubs and plants which grow in the
Deccan. The women make pillows of it, and
bring them about for sale, offering a large one
for a shilling. It is also quilted into the gar-

BELGAUM WALNUT-TREE. 227

merits which the natives wear during the rains.
It has a handsome leaf, composed of five deeply
indented fingers, which spring from a main rib.

The jamun, a very ornamental tree, pro-
ducing large timber, has bright glossy leaves,
something like those of the beech. It bears
bunches of purple fruit, something like grapes,
but with a stone in the middle ; but in spite of
their tempting appearance, they were aban-
doned to the boys and birds. We had also the
so-called Belgaum walnut (Aleurites Triloba),
introduced into India from the Society Islands.
The fine-coloured large leaves are three or five
lobed, and the young foliage is covered with a
mealy substance, which gives it a peculiar
metallic appearance. It bears spikes of white
flowers, and when the fruit is full-grown, it
resembles a large unripe, white-dusted apri-
cot. Two nuts are contained in the husk.
I have often picked them up, but have never
tasted them. The natives say that when 'fresh
they are very unwholesome, and require to be
kept for a year before they are eaten. The
tree, however, is valuable, on account of these
kernels, which yield above fifty per cent, of fine
clear oil.

There were some young but tall trees, which
we took to be mangoes, until suddenly one of

q2

228 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

them put forth a quantity of petallated flowers
of the purest yellow, when it proved to be the
champac (michella champaca), a species which is
highly estimated by the Hindoos. They cele-
brate its charms in their poetry, and will beg,
steal, and even buy the blossoms at a high
price ; for they believe that their overpower-
ingly sweet perfume is particularly acceptable
to their gods. I was obliged to discard a hand-
ful brought into my room, and the scent still
clings to a blotting-book into which I put one
of the flowers. The Buddhists also hold this
tree to be sacred, and reserve its wood to make
from it images of Sakiya (Buddha).

We possessed a cluster of the cocoa-nut palm,
the most elegant of all the tribe. We were
proud of the half-dozen nuts they bore, for
their production proved that we were within
the influence of the sea breeze. Scattered
about were many Palmyra-trees, but several of
them were past their prime. The cylindrical
stem, a little wide at the base, was set so firmly
upon the ground, without visible roots, that it
always reminded me of a Doric column — all the
more so as it grew in joints of about a foot
high, which might well have been taken for
smooth-tooled stones. The strings of seeds
which burst from the huge pods, sweeping

SOAP-NUT TREE. 229

down until they attained a length of more than
ten feet, were their greatest beauty. At first
the threads were very delicate and green, as
they swayed about, making me think what
mermaids' hair might be like. The seeds, set
in groups of three on alternative sides of the
thread, were at first very small, but they swell-
ed until they were as large as marbles. The
trees then became black and ugly, and were
hacked down. So heavy had they then become,
that it took three men to lift one of them into
the refuse cart.

We were fortunate enough to have a soap-
nut tree (Sapindacea), which had a soft, bright
green leaf, with a downy brown stem, and bore
spiked heads of little pale flowers, which fructi-
fied into nuts, sold by the ounce in the bazaars.
The husk of these nuts is the valuable part.
Soaked in tepid water, it forms a lather, which
is employed with good effect in cleaning silks,
washing flannels, and restoring the colour of
wroollen garments.

The sandal, growing in every hedge and
compound, is a thin, straggling tree, with dis-
torted limbs, and is described as a species of
myrtle. The leaves, which are small, pointed,
and shiny, are symmetrically arranged on each
side of a slender stem. The fragrant branches

230 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

fetch a high price, as all classes desire the
sweet-scented boughs for the celebration of
their funeral rites. Notwithstanding this, how-
ever, the tree bears an evil reputation with the
fanciful natives. I met with the following de-
scription of it in the translation of a remnant of
an ancient Hindoo treatise upon timber : " The
root is infested by serpents, the blossoms by
bees, the branches by monkeys, the summit by
bears — in short, there is not a part of the sandal-
tree that is not occupied by the vilest impuri-
ties." In spite, however, of this list of evils,
the sandal-wood is so remunerative that the
Forest Commissioners of this Presidency are
about to make regular plantations of it on a
plan which has been tried with success in
Madras.

Under the names of Acacia Arabica, or Babool
of India, I was not prepared to meet with my
old friend, bearing the tiny powdery yellow
balls, which at Cannes sell for forty francs the
pound ; yet there it was, set with sharp thorns,
and growing wild in our compound. It was by
no means so luxuriant as its better cultivated
sister in the south of France, yet the flowers
had even a sweeter perfume, and nothing could
exceed the delicacy of the sensitive leaves. I
could not succeed in pressing them with any

GOLDEN MHUNE-TREE. 231

good result, for, like those of a true Mirnsea,
they shut up the moment they were touched.
The blossom in this country is appreciated only
by the natives, to whom every sickly perfume
is agreeable, and who offer them up in the
temples. The rough crooked branches over-
flow with gum, which is eagerly collected in
the jungles, and its pods of tree are greedily
devoured by sheep and goats.

In addition to those I have named, we had
two trees and a shrub of unrivalled beauty, a
glorious trio. The first in the year to flower
was one of many champac, a kind of magnolia,
about twenty feet high. When bare, the stiff-
ness of its skeleton is remarkable, the boughs,
which branch out at right angles, being incapa-
ble of a curve or an inclination. The flowers,
which are delightfully fragrant, come out iu
clusters, thousands of the narrow-petalled,
vellum-like blossoms, white at the tips, but
gradually assuming a hue which I can only
liken to that of a golden sunset. The long,
pointed, lance-like leaves soon mingle with the
flowers, and when the latter pass away the
foliage is very fine.

In the month of March the whole country is
ablaze with the flame-coloured blossoms of the
golden Mhune, a tree which is a native of

232 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

South America, and has not been acclimatized
in India above fifteen years. I have not yet
become acquainted with its proper name. Its
growth resembles that of the cedar, but its
horizontal limbs, which have a slight dip, are
covered with the most exquisite foliage, fine as
that of the sensitive plants, and large as the
plumes of an ostrich, waving about, in varied
tints of green. The leaflets fold themselves
together, and sleep away the dark hours ; the
candelabrum, whose blossoms produce a most
splendid effect, maintains its beauty all the year
round. The Poinsettia, a very large, spreading
shrub, which bears during the cold season, is a
native of Mexico. The cluster of little yellow
balls, which first appear, are soon surrounded
by bags of pointed crimson-scarlet leaves, of
unequal length. Nothing can be more superb
than this flower, seen by the light of a tropical
moon, when its lurid colour is bathed in the
luminous atmosphere. This is the plant which
adds so greatly to the splendour of the gardens
of the Ttij at Agra, where it grows to perfec-
tion. Further north than that it does not
flourish. It is a sticky plant to touch ; its
foliage of fine pointed pale green leaves is very
handsome, and it is full of a white milk, which
yields gum. It is not unusual to see whole

THE EUCALYPTUS. 233

avenues of this shrub. We had a number of
Eucalypti in our garden, and all about the neigh-
bourhood, planted with the idea of purifying
the air. In Algeria they were cultivated with
success. I have seen many of tolerably large
growth, which had been planted where lakes
had been drained, and where ground which had
lain fallow for a thousand years had been put
under cultivation, but they will not flourish in
the high table-lands of the Deccan. The only
specimen in the fort which appeared to be
healthy was one in our garden, so placed as to be
constantly irrigated, and consequently growing
with amazing rapidity.

The eucalyptus has been extensively planted
by Government in the Cannara jungles,, but
I was told by one of the Forest Commissioners
that the experiment had failed. It is an ugly
tree, with small oval blue-green leaves, which
grow so close to the branches that they
cannot be separated from them without being
torn, in which case they emit a powerful aro-
matic odour, the medicinal qualities of which
are considered to be valuable in cases of fever.
The eucalyptus is the true monarch of the
forest kingdom. In the almost untrodden
regions of Australia trees have been met with
that surpass in size even the Wellingtonia

234 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

Gigantea. Ferdinand Midler, the botanist,
says that trees of the species eucalyptus amyg-
dalina, four hundred and eighty feet in length,
were met with lying on the ground ; a fact per-
fectly confirmed by the statement of Mr. George
Robins, who saw in the mountains of Berwick
one of those trees standing, which had, near the
ground, a circumference of eighty-one feet, and
the height of which he estimated at five hundred
feet. This eucalyptus, therefore, could over-
shadow the great pyramid of Egypt, and the
spire of Strasbourg Cathedral, for the former is
only four hundred and eighty feet in height, and
the latter four hundred and sixty-six.

235

CHAPTER XL

Our Bungalow — Building in India — Anglo-Indian Words
— Beautiful Floral Display — Tameness of Bird and
Beast — Buffaloes — Our Establishment of Servants —
Butler and Cook— The Puttah WaUee— The Malee,
or Head-Gardener — Frequent Demands for Holidays
— Want of Privacy — Pretended Christians — Expenses
of the Table — Grafting of Mangoes — Provisions, Fruit,
and Wine.

OUR bungalow, a charming residence, consist-
ed entirely of a ground floor, the construc-
tion of which always reminded me of a French
church. The lofty drawing-room had a rounded
end, the long dining-room crossed it, and
through the vestibule were seen the stout pil-
lars set upon square bases, which supported the
southern verandah and the lofty porch. The
sacristies were numerously represented by the
bedrooms, which ran along the sides of tho
house. The building was almost entirely en-
closed by wide verandahs, delightful places of
resort, always shady, but never gloomy ; and
the whole was packed under a high-pitched

23(3 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

roof of tiles, which swept down to within some
ten feet of the ground.

Large as the house was, we had to add to it,
and I watched the erection of what were to be
my own quarters, with much interest. The
new rooms were built of great square blocks of
calasite, and every morning there came some
wonderful old women, with metal ornaments,
and blue savis with red borders, who had
pestles two yards in height, with which they
pounded away at a quantity of lime and fine
sand, wiiich was to form the flooring. This the
builder called chunam, but the true chunam,
which is much used in Eastern houses, is made
of white shells, reduced to an almost impalpable
powder, which is made into plaster, and pro-
duces a most brilliant effect.

The old ladies, who always arrived with
the dawn, reminded me of Michael Angelo's
three fates ; and as they worked they used at
first to chant in parts, probably some old his-
tory, which effectually scared away my slum-
bers. I was obliged to learn the magic word
which meant in English " Hold your tongue \"
which, after it was hurled at them, silenced
them for ever. I trust, however, that it might
have had a milder signification in Mahratta.

In my ignorance I was all astonishment at see-

WOMEN AND THEIR BABIES. 237

ing two dark brown boys, clad in little beyond
the sacred thread, but decked out in silver
bracelets, anklets, earrings, and relic-boxes,
perched on my skeleton roof, and putting on
the tiles. A canvas ceiling was spread, but
not until there had been much delay in conse-
quence of the unpunctuality of the dersei (tailor)
who had to stitch it together. This man, in
consequence of a death in his family, had a

half-grown beard, and G used periodically

to threaten to shave him if he did not get on
with his work, a penalty the infliction of which
would have entailed upon him dire disgrace.

Then the builders cleared out, and were suc-
ceeded by a band of women who brought large
bundles of prepared palm strips which they
wove into smooth, sweet-scented matting,
forming a pattern by introducing strips of
different colours. They brought with them
black babies with unnaturally large eyes,
who rolled about in a corner, and sucked
guavas. I used to watch these women, who
were very young (possibly not above thirteen
or fourteen), wonder at the dexterity with
which they used their flexible toes, and
admire their pretty round arms, which were
tattooed so completely that they looked as if
covered with fine lace. The sight of them

238 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

seemed to make intelligible the words of Goethe,
when he said, " The painting and tattooing of
the body is a return to animalism."

When they vanished, I took possession of my
pleasant chamber, with its dressing and bath-
room. It had a large glass door, opening into
the verandah, a French window, with a low
seat, and two cottage windows, which gave
upon the garden. I felt it strange to leap out
upon the tropical vegetation. Some of the
great arum leaves, bronzed, or soft as velvet,
lobed and pointed, were a yard in length ; and
there was a palmesettia, covered with crimson
blossoms, through which the fine-pointed green
leaves were seen. There was also the amaran-
this, with its superb golden flower, which I had
only previously seen in store-houses. The
stephanalis was near, for its sweet perfume was
wafted into the chamber. Then there were
large pyramids of the double geranium, and
ferns, from the Nilgherries, the Cannara jungles,
and the pathless ghats; and through them I
could see the waving plantain-trees, and a
great banyan, with aerial roots, and tall
Palmyra-trees, backed by light green clouds of
the sensitive foliage of the tamarind-tree. My
easy-chair was a place to dream in. The book
in my lap lay neglected, I could not help fol-

THE COMPOUND. 239

lowing the flight of the bright birds and
glorious butterflies as they glinted by, or
watching the changing hue of the chameleons
as they darted about.

The house stood in about two acres of
ground — the Compound, as it was called, a
name so indicative of its various divisions that
I was tempted to use it, for I was ignorant that
it was a corruption of the Malay word Kom-
pany, and imagined it to be one of those Anglo-
Indian words to which I have a great aversion.
(Why cannot people, for instance, say luncheon,
instead of tiffin ?) To the north lay the
stables, the kitchens, and other offices, the
poultry houses, the sheds for the milk-giving
animals, sheltered by trees,and hidden by a build-
ing erected by G , and a rabbit-house, which

looked exceedingly like a family mausoleum.
In the midst of the enclosure rose the old
arched tomb, where a certain cobra was known
to keep watch over the bones of Afzool Khan's
prime minister.

On one side, near the front of the house, there
grew a great round-headed ramplul, which
yielded an immense quantity of fruit, esteemed
as sacred by the Hindoos. It was large, heart-
shaped, and netted, and was full of custard, in
itself a perfect meal, but by no means one

240 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

which was digestible. This tree was enclosed
by trellis-work, which was covered by fine
creepers ; and within the bower were set such
flowers as loved the shade. On the other side
was a Badminton ground, where benches and
seats were arranged ; and there were flower-
beds and a splendid collection of caladiuras.
One very tall fir-tree rose near this spot, with
peculiar foliage, as fine as horse-hair, and round
its great trunk there clung a night-blowing
cenus, a long-pointed plant, which climbed
until it attained the height of sixty feet, and
then threw out great straggling sprays.

One day we discovered that these were
covered with dull yellow buds, which pointed
upwards ; and when, in the evening, we had
lights brought under it, never could I have
imagined so glorious a specimen of the floral
world. The flowers, above a foot in length,
had turned over in opening, and hung suspend-
ed above us in exquisite beauty. We counted
two hundred and ten of the great star-like
cups, but no doubt there were many hidden
by the stems and branches. A long ladder was
brought, and some half-dozen flowers were cut
off. Although so large, nothing could exceed
the delicacy of their texture ; the wax-like
leaves, white at the tip, were lemon-colour at

BUFFALOES AND COWS. 241

the bore_, and the deep fringe of exquisite fine
petals was of a rich deep golden hue. We had
been told that, if the flower was deprived, when
plucked, of its long stem, it would last much
longer. We did not, however, find that the
operation made any difference in this respect.
All faded in a few hours, and lost their sweet
perfume. The blossom, though much finer,
bore some resemblance to that of the water-lily.
In this great rush of vigour, Nature had for this
season exhausted itself, and we looked in vain
for succeeding buds.

The confiding tameness of bird and beast is
one of the pleasures of Indian life. All the
butter and the ghi used for cooking was made
at home. The two great buffaloes, called, from
the rivers that watered their native plains,
Krishna and Malparba, came up morning and
evening to be milked, at the side verandah, into
shining brass vessels. Their little ones accom-
panied them — tame things, with budding horns
and lucid eyes, who were pleased to have their
heads rubbed, and to follow one about for bits
of sugar-cane. Buffaloes' milk is very rich, and
produces the thickest of cream. Then the small
Deccan cows came up with their calves. With
the exception of the hump upon the neck, they
bear a great resemblance to certain Swiss cows.

VOL. i. r

242 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

They are black and ash-colour, and very wicked.
M. eventually got rid of our old friends the
goats, which required constant attention, as
they must browse whilst in milk. With one
exception, the poultry were confined to their
own quarters. The favoured bird was a turkey
cock, who had a history, having been singled
out for his merits to grace the festive board
upon the anniversary of G and M.'s wed-
ding-day. On the very eve of the joyous occa-
sion, however, he sickened with a severe attack
of small-pox, which was the means of preserving
his life for many months. He was very fond of
following me about, but not altogether out of
friendship. My feathered friend ultimately dis-
appeared, and I was too prudent to ask any
questions regarding his absence. The great
twin brothers had their kennels close to the
house, and would occasionally steal into it, to
the vast indignation of Bustle, who would never
cease barking until, with their tails between
their legs, and drooping ears, they, for the sake
of peace, took their departure.

The human creatures about us formed a mot-
ley population — Protestant and Roman Catholic,
Mahomedan and Hindoo. In consequence of
the sub-division of labour in an Indian estab-
lishment, wages are the greatest item of ex-

NATIVE CONVERSATION. 243

pense. On the first of every month quite a
crowd flocked up to the office to receive their

money, on which occasions G had never

less than thirty-three pounds to disburse, and
often above that sum. These people were highly
and regularly paid; they were well cared for
when sick ; their wages were never cut (a com-
mon and convenient way of punishing domestic
offences) ; but they were kept up to their work,
and no sauntering about, or peeping round cor-
ners, was allowed. Many of them had followed
their master from Sattara, and there was seldom
a change. The children had an English nurse
— a dear old woman, whose one standing griev-
ance was the difficulty of renewing the poke
bonnet of her youth, which she insisted upon
retaining. She had an ayah under her, who
spoke our language, and was strictly enjoined
to teach no word of Mahratta to her charges,
and not to be eternally petting them, and pick-
ing up their toys.

The conversation of the most respectable
natives is very impure, and though children at
the time may not understand what is said, the
meaning of a coarse speech often dawns upon
them when they are older. The second rule

was laid down because M. and Gr desired

their children to be thorough English children,

R2

244 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

and disliked the half-Indianized, fretful little
beings so often to be met with. It is not un-
common to see two native women and a man
anticipating every whim of some querulous
little thing, who would have considered it a
hardship if required to lift up her own doll
from the floor. I have seen an ayah and three
Sepoy orderlies engaged about a couple of little
children, the soldiers even assisting in tubbing
them. Our ayah, though possibly not more
than five-and-thirty, was so stiff and shrivelled
that she had an air of positive old age ; she was
very small, and very black, and as she sat in
her low chair, or on the ground, with her skinny
arms round the fair child, she looked exactly
like a monkey wrapped up in white muslin.
She wore mysterious pockets and leather bags
under her external garment, and was the slyest
of old women. She used to steal out in the
grey of the morning, and drawing a long bam-
boo from its place of concealment in the hedge,
she would knock down the ripest mangoes and
guavas, conceal them about her person, and
creep back again, quite unconscious of the
amusement whieh I had derived from watching
her stealthy movements.

The butler, a young man, with a face like a
bronze lion, was a Portuguese — at least, he came

THE BUTLER. 245

from the Portuguese settlement of Goa, which
sends forth numbers of servants, who are
necessary, for a Hindoo would not place beef
upon the table. He had a young wife in the
compound, and when any particular ceremony
took place in the Goanese chapel, she used to

steal G 's flowers, I was going to say to his

smutterable indignation, but I recall the first
part of the word.

In India, a butler is a very important person-
age (in G 's household only such duties

devolved upon him as would have been his
business in England), but he is not to be envied.
He represents all the other domestics, and is
scolded for their faults and omissions ; he orders
the dinner, he gets in the stores, and sees that
the babies and the horses are properly fed. It
often happens that the master is tired, or lazy,
and that the mistress speaks no word of Hin-
dustani ; the weather is hot, and they are both
thankful to have a deputy who keeps the hetero-
geneous household together. Our second man was
a Mahomedan, and a respectable one, although
he did not object to our eating ham with turkey.
Our housemaid, as we called him, was a mild

Hindoo, a favourite with G and myself, but

not so with M., who declared that he was capa-
ble of pulling an iron bar in two. It is astonish-

246 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

ing what this race can do with their subtle,
gristly fingers. He had a woman under him
whom we never saw. He was a man of good
caste, and to touch anything in the bath-rooms
might have cost him a trip to the Ganges.

G 's waiter was Portuguese, his puttah-

wallee a Mahomedan. Like all his race, he was
sharp, active, and hard, but tolerably trustworthy.
He had charge of the office, wore a long coat,
with a band crossing over one shoulder, which
was fastened on one side by a metal badge, on
which was engraved his master's names, &c.
It is the puttah-wallee's duty, if required, to
accompany the children and nurses when they
walk or drive, but that was not permitted in
this model household. Had I submitted
to it, he would have followed me in my
walks, and carried my books to and from
the library. If there] was a party, it was
he who ushered in the guests, and on such
occasions, to the great amusement of M. and
myself, he arrayed himself in a straight garment
which came down to his heels, and was made
of brocaded pink satin. His smart red turban
served him as a pocket, and in its folds he
carried all notes confided to his care. Like all
the other servants, he never entered the house
save with naked feet (the nails, both of the

G 'S HOUSEHOLD. 247

hands and feet of the natives, are carefully-
tended by professional persons, who know also
something of surgery, and there are female bar-
bers for the women), but out of doors he wore
sandals worked with gold, which might have
excited the envy of an ancient Roman. We had
two derseis, or tailors, who sat in the verandah,
made our dresses, brushed them, put them away,
and ironed all our muslins. They were very
nice quiet men — Hindoos — with the dreadful
eye between perpendicular lines upon their fore-
heads.

Of course the cook was a very important
person, and as beef and bacon were again a
consideration, a Portuguese reigned over the
department. As usual, this functionary had a
mate under him, and as M. could harangue him
both in the tongue of the country and in
Spanish, which did duty for Portuguese, they
got on very well. It is astonishing what these
men can do with small means. M. insisted upon
the use of a dresser and rolling-pin, but paste
in general is made upon a board placed on the
floor, and smoothed out with a bottle. On one
occasion a ball-supper was in preparation, and
M. thought that some pies in cones would look
very well, but how to ornament them was the
question. The babbajee pondered till a bright

248 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

idea struck him, and he looked up with a
radiant face ; he could mould the designs, and,
if Madam would only lend him her paints and
brushes, he could manage to perfection.

The malee, or head gardener, was a strange-
looking man, with a thing like a cap of liberty
on his head, a splendid silver waist chain,
several earrings, a necklace, and a relic box,
that is to say, a box containing the emblem of
his sect. The greater part of his ill-shaped
head was shaved, but down the centre a straight
narrow line of hair was allowed to grow, ending
in a circular patch, by way of representing the
dreadful eye, and his would-be whiskers were
trimmed into patterns. Hindoos bestow the
utmost care upon their hair, which is exceed-
ingly luxuriant, and their barbers trim it and
arrange it in all sorts of fanciful fashions.

G had two orderlies, one of whom was

from a native regiment, who sometimes had
their shining tresses braided into innumerable
plaits, and folded up at the back of their heads.
I wish that I could have sketched our dobies
(washermen), father and son, both such hand-
some, stately-looking men. This occupation is
peculiar to people of good caste. The beestie,
with his great cream-coloured bullock (its hump
wreathed with flowers on festival days), was
a picturesque object.

AN UNPREPOSSESSING INDIVIDUAL. 249

There was one man in the establishment to
whom I had the utmost aversion, for he was
cruel to his cattle. He had in his charge a little
buffalo, who had been given to me as a pet.
The poor thing used to yearn for the green
grass, which was almost under his nose, and
which it might have had with very little trou-
ble ; but it was only by resorting to bribery that
I could obtain for it proper attention and a little
indulgence. This man would sometimes point
out to me wounds which had been inflicted upon
him by his animals. I felt myself obliged
to look commiserative, as I wished to con-
ciliate him ; bat I used to think to myself
that 1 was very glad that he was hurt. The
appearance of this individual was most remark-
able ; he had large nostrils, but scarcely any
nose ; his hard, bright eyes were perfectly
round, and he wriggled his lithe body about
when he walked. I do think that this man
must have been a snake in some former state
of existence, and this reptile had a kind of
sympathy for him. The bite even of a cobra, he
declared, he found to produce no ill effects. It
is certain that he caught several in our com-
pound, and that Gr ■ saw one of them (not a

cobra) produce blood by its bite. He was
alarmed, but the uncanny creature laughed,

250 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

and went on his way unharmed, and apparently
unconcerned. We always called him "the
missing link/'

The domestics were occasionally very trouble-
some in asking for holidays, and that under such
plausible pretexts that it was difficult to say no.
One man would desire a few days in which to
marry his daughter and feast his friends;
another would announce that his father, or some
other near relative, was dead and that he must

attend to the funeral ceremonies. When G

was from home, the death-rate increased to an
alarming extent, and at last became so seriously
inconvenient that we had to assemble the
household, and announce that none of their re-
lations were either to marry or to die until
their master returned. Our friend the brigadier
told us that he had set up a register of such
events, and that upon his butler's saying that
he must go and bury his father, he pointed out
to the man that the relative in question had
departed this life seven months previously.
The butler never attempted to argue the point,
but grinned, and appeared to be pleased rather
than otherwise that the event should have been
recorded.

In general, the trying part of an Indian
establishment is its want of privacy, for there

CURIOSITY OF HINDOO SERVANTS. 251

are very few houses in which the servants are
not all over the place. If there happen to be
visitors, they cross through the rooms on the
slightest pretence, merely to look at them.
Perhaps the dersei will take the opportunity of
bringing in some torn garment, having all of a
sudden grown most conscientious as to the
manner it which it is to be mended. The doors-
and windows being of necessity open, there are
eyes and heads everywhere, if allowed, but not
a sound indicates the presence of their owners,
who steal round the corners with naked, noise-
less feet, their garments never rustling. Natives
are very curious, and dearly love to gossip
when their masters are out, gathering together
in the roads, and discussing the affairs of the
family over the garden hedge. Great mischief
has arisen from this custom, and from the habit
which some ladies, who would scorn to do so at
home, have of talking to their ayahs, who, in
such cases, collect all the personal gossip they
can, and, of course, colour it highly; but ayahs
are rapidly going out of fashion, and ladies, if
possible, secure European attendants in thsir
houses and about their persons. Still the
native servants, more especially the Hindoos,
have very good points. During a great afflic-
tion with which God, for some inscrutable good

252 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

purpose, was pleased to visit us, they showed
their sorrow and sympathy in a most simple and
unobtrusive manner.

1 cannot help saying a few words respecting
those servants that called themselves Christians.
It may seem to be a startling assertion, but it
was a fact : they were a most unprincipled set
of people, for they were hypocrites, who pro-
fessed any religion to serve a purpose. The
missionaries declare that this class work infinite
mischief, for they mislead many of the English
with whom they come in contact, by inducing
the unreflecting to believe " that the heathen,
when converted, only make bad Christians, and
are better left alone." Such is the speech in many
a mouth. Respecting the best means of win-
ning over the Hindoo race to true Christianity,
people differ greatly. I do not presume to offer
an opinion upon so momentous a subject — in-
deed, I am not sure that I have one (how lightly
people talk of their opinions !) ; but to my mind
the following lines, written by one who was
competent to judge, are very significant : —

" It cannot be doubted that the endeavour
to diffuse Christianity amongst the higher
classes of the natives is one of very great im-
portance, for the institution of caste gives the
higher classes greater influence in India than in

INFLUENCE OF HIGH- CLASS SCHOOLS. 25a

any other country ; but it was found that they
could not be reached by any of the agencies
formerly at work, and up to the present time it
is only by means of an English education of so
high an order as to prove an attraction to them,
that those classes have, in any degree, been
brought within the range of Christian influences.
The number of persons actually converted to
Christianity from year to year, by means of
these schools, has never been considerable, and
seems smaller of late years than ever. On the
other hand, the converts of this system, though
few in number, belong to an influential class ;
and it is an interesting circumstance that,
through their influence and example, Christian-
ity has spread, in some degree, amongst
persons belonging to the same class who have
never been at mission schools at all, or who
have attended schools from which Christianity
has been carefully excluded. The good effected
by these schools cannot be safely estimated by
the number of conversions that has actually
taken place in connection with them, for it is
universally acknowledged that they have done
much good incidentally. Many Hindoos, who
still adhere to their ancestral faith, value these
schools highly on account of the high moral
tone by which they are pervaded. It is chiefly

254 jUY FEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

owing to the influence of these schools that we
see amongst the Hindoos such a spirit of inquiry,
and the germs, at least, of so many moral and
social reforms."

To a Hindoo the most attractive form of
Christian religion is that of the Roman Catholic
Church; but, strange to say, the missionaries sent
to India occupy themselves very little with the
conversion of the heathen ; they rather seek to
make proselytes from other Christian communi-
ties. Our ayah was one of their converts. I
used to wonder what her ideas upon the subject
could really be, for, from all I could gather, they
appeared to be most cloudy, and certainly, if
she had any religious convictions, she did not
bring them to bear upon her moral conduct,
and I have observed that Christianized ayahs,
in general, fall back upon caste if they have any
task allotted to them which they are unwilling
to perform. But is it surprising that such
should be the case 1 This woman had inherited
the fatal legacy of a hundred generations of
heathenism, had to rid herself of the evil ten-
dencies handed down to her, to forget the gross
converse of her youth before she could become
a Christian at heart. The Lenana Mission is
widely spread, and is supposed to produce good

EXPENSES OF THE TABLE. 255

fruit, but it has many stumbling-blocks to en-
counter, one of which is the aversion which the
native lady has to the idea of learning to read ;
her narrow mind associating learning, in a
female, with vice, for the only Indian women
hitherto so instructed were the dancing girls
belonging to the temples. Moreover, the
generality of Hindoo men are against the
movement. A highly enlightened native said
to me, " Before our women and girls are edu-
cated, we must have a new literature."

The ordinary expenses of the table were
moderate, as we had abundance of cream and
vegetables of our own. Mutton was but three
halfpence the pound. Nothing could look more
delicate than the joints, but it was necessary to
use the meat whilst unpleasantly fresh, and it
had a strong, oily, woolly flavour to which I
never became reconciled. M. entered into a
speculation with regard to mutton, which ought
to have enriched the family, but it was a failure.
She bought a small flock of sheep, and took base

advantage of a meadow which G had hired

for the cows and buffaloes. Though they were
full-grown, these sheep did not cost more than
fourteen shillings the half-dozen. Beef was
plentiful and tolerably good, and was the same
price as mutton, but there is a prejudice against

256 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

the flesh of this animal, which is said to induce
certain maladies of a painful nature. It is
generally buffalo beef, and these animals, being
very impure feeders, are often fed upon stable
refuse, and for the same reason the milk and
ghi sold in the bazaars are often unwholesome.
Occasionally, however, a fine one would arrive
from Bijipur or Gokak, and then a notice, word-
ed in the most peculiar manner, was sent round.

G generally managed, amongst other parts,

to secure the hump, which is excellent, if care-
fully salted ; when near its end, it grates like
hung beef, but when it first comes to table it looks
like a great red cloven foot. Veal was good,
but not common, and fresh pork we never saw.
The poultry, a little tough in consequence of its
freshness, was otherwise good, being fattened
at home. It was reared in the Portuguese ter-
ritory, and brought from thence in great round
baskets, balanced upon the heads of wild dark
men. The birds were verv tame, and whilst
their masters and the butler were striking their
bargains they were let out to take a walk and pick
up what they could. If not bought, they were
guided back to their cages by a twig with a
bunch of leaves at the end. I came to look upon
Goa as a land flowing with milk and honey ; all
the best mangoes come from thence, as well as

FISH AND GAME. • 257

oranges and other fruits. From thence G-

used to get up casks of excellent pure wine,
which entered Goa from the mother country, free
of duty, but a heavy tax had to be paid at the
British frontier. Still the wine, which was rich
and rather strong, cost him less than a shilling a
bottle. The Branco was made from the white
grape, and somewhat resembled good raisin
wine ; the Tinto was a kind of port, a little
rough, but well-flavoured. Coarse lace, made
very effectively by hand, was also brought from
the same quarter. Some people had it dyed to
match the colour of their dresses. Occasion-
ally game was brought round — snipe, wild
duck, teal, a kind of bustard, partridges, &c,
with painted plumage, but their flesh was re-
markably hard and white. A fine hare could
be bought for a shilling. At certain seasons the
fresh-water fish made a pleasant addition to
the table. The marsal, which somewhat re-
sembles a pike, is much esteemed. There were
eels in abundance ; and a certain fry, which,
when sent up with slices of brown bread and
butter, deluded people into the idea that they
were eating whitebait. Prawns, which were
plentiful, were generally served up on toast,
without which no Anglo-Indian dinner is con-
sidered complete. The green chilli makes an
VOL. I. S

258 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

excellent toast ; when young it is not so hot,
and the flavour is most refreshing. Oysters
would occasionally arrive all alive, but not good
enough to be served up uncooked, having lost
a good deal of their sea flavour from being
kept artificially on their journey from the
Malabar Coast.

People differed much in their appreciation of
tinned provisions. With some exceptions, such
as salmon and bacons and hams, which they'got
out whole from Aberdeen, they had a prejudice
against them, considering them to be neither good
nor wholesome. A good cook will send up an ex-
cellent dinner with little recourse to their aid.
The great expense at a dinner-party is the
champagne, which flows in abundance, many
touching no other kind of wine ; and at the
messes it is now handed round at dessert.
Our vegetable garden was so productive that
we very seldom availed ourselves of those at-
tached to the station, which, however, to many
people are a great boon. We had all sorts of
salads and ordinary vegetables grown from
English seed, which must be renewed each
season, as it deteriorates. The exotic sorts
were sweet potatoes, a variety of marrowy
guavas and pulpy productions, green sugar-cane,
very young, which is cooked in various

FRUIT. 259

fashions, and the spike of the maze when
tender. This is a favourite dish, but it is only-
presented en famille, as it has to be gnawed.
What is called the thirty days' rice, grown
during the rains, is nice, and much given to in-
valids. Fruit, to the European, is a great
Indian luxury, and very wholesome, some half
living upon it. Many varieties are of a very
substantial nature, for in this latitude it was
evidently intended to be the staple food of the
inhabitants. Its cultivation, however, is some-
what neglected in this part of the Deccan, as
there is not now sufficient demand for the finest
sorts. When communication with other parts
of the country was slow the case was different.
Many people remember our compound a
luxuriant grove of orange and lime-trees ; but a
solitary specimen alone remains now, and that
is strangled and hidden away by a great
creeper. Doubtless the fruit of the mango
stands first. If uncultivated, the tree spreads
into a forest, with far-stretching branches and
noble foliage ; by cultivation it is dwarfed. It
bears an endless quantity of fruit, and is most
luxuriant near the sea. In its early stage the
fruit resembles a large unripe plum, and is sus-
pended from the parent in branches, each on its
long green thread. It gradually assumes an

s2

260 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

oval, flattish, and not very symmetrical form,
and becomes golden yellow, green with a flush,
of red, or russet, according to its variety. Some
of them taste so strongly of turpentine as scarcely
to be eatable. One sort, which is rare, resembles
an apricot, and is only served in perfection by
the native princes, who moisten the roots with
libations of fresh camel's milk. It cannot be

bought, but G< , who has often eaten it,

pronounces it to be delicious. Mangoes are
grafted by the arching-iu process, and in this
country two devices are practised in order to
render it, or other large trees, graceful. One
consists in punching out here and there on the
stem pieces of bark ; the other in driving a large
nail into the stem of the tree where the
branches fork out. This, it is supposed, pre-
vents the sap from descending, and concentrates
it in the fruit-bearing branches. In some
respects this fruit is inconvenient. It is said to
tinge people yellow ; its juice stains the hands,
and woe be to your dress if the slippery stone
falls upon it. The tree was introduced into
the West Indies by Sir Joseph Banks, but has
never attained such perfection there as in India.
It was a pretty sight to see the great baskets
of fruit uncovered in the verandah — the large
golden pines (principally from Goa) were much

PLANTAINS. 261

superior to those produced in the West Indies,
and very nearly as good as our English hot-
house productions. We had some in the gar-
den, but there was scarcely any motive for
growing them, as in the season we could get
three for a shilling. Sometimes we bought
plantains, but at others the great konds ripened
so rapidly that we had to give them away.
The long, narrow, green leaf, as it waves
about, is very beautiful ; they are often
cut into shapes, and serve to convey cer-
tain articles in place of paper. There were
numberless varieties of this fruit, but none of
them, to our mind, so delicious as those we had
eaten in North Africa. It was curious to watch
the purple glow unfold. I have seen leaves a
foot and a half long. Concealed under each
leaf is a fringe of yellow threads, which force
the covering off, and swell into the fruit.
Sometimes there were great round pomelos,
ornamented like the great globes hung sus-
pended from the tree. The perfume of the
blossom is delicious in the open air. They are
not, in my opinion, good to eat, but I need not
dwell upon their excellence when made into
sherbet — that is a matter of history. The
small-netted carland apple is both good and
pretty.

262 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

One day a fresh fruit was brought for me to
try — a fruit about which there can be no
middle opinion, for it is either liked or disliked
exceedingly. When the great spongy rind is
cut open, it presents to view a number of raw-
looking bags, the colour of uncooked veal.
This is eaten in various ways, and is so glutin-
ous that if mixed with sugar and put into a
mould it will turn out in a shape. The large
nut which each bag contains is, when roasted,
said to be very like the chestnut.

We were fortunate enough to have a number
of guava-trees, much esteemed not only for
their fruit, but for their foliage, which is always
green. Children are very fond of the raw fruit,
but I must confess to liking it best when
stewed. The soft furry rind alone is used
when thus prepared, but when jelly and port
are made, the seed which fills the interior like
that of a fig is also employed. Stewed citron
is very nice ; and the shrub with its glossy,
myrtle-like leaves is highly ornamental.

Some like the loquat, the fruit of which
grows in clusters, and look like little yellow
pears. What pulp it contains has a pleasant,
sharp flavour, but the large and numerous
stones are a drawback to its merits. The tree
bears a beautiful blossom, and the foliage is

CAPE GOOSEBERRY. 263

fine. We had pomegranates, valuable for the
beauty of the flower ; but the fruit is poor in,
Western India, unless the tree, like ours, be
•well irrigated. It seems scarcely our sister-
tree, which bears the enormous ruddy brown
heads, bursting with the richness of their ruby

contents, which G brought from Sind. We

had an ornamental culinary plant, called the
roselle. The part made use of is the husk of
the berry, which contains the seeds — it makes
the most delicious tarts, and a jelly finer in
colour than currant jelly, for which it makes an
admirable substitute.

Some deluded people, G included, were

proud of their strawberries, but I never saw any
in Belgaum that were worth eating. We had,
however, a profusion of the so-called raspberry,
a large downy bramble from the Nilgherries,
which bore a fruit like a hoary blackberry, but
red inside, and with very little flavour. The
Cape gooseberry, or Peruvian cherry, the fruit
of which makes an excellent preserve, is worth
mentioning. Its bright yellow ball is concealed
by angular leaves, and has a pleasant acid
flavour. Of course I can only make mention of
some of the good things with which our table
was supplied, but I think that I have mentioned
such a variety as to show that we did not starve
in Western India.

264 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

Gr spared neither expense, time, nor per-
sonal labour upon his garden, and it was far
the finest in Belgaura. During the dry season
a number of hands were required morning and
evening to water the plants in pots and tubs,
which could not be irrigated. There were
many beautiful creepers, trained upon trellises
and frames of bamboo. I think that the bright
pink sprays of the antigonon stood first. The
leafy plants grew with the greatest luxuriance,
and some of them were rare specimens. There
were above five-and-twenty varieties of the
caladium. The show of roses was almost as
good as in a garden at home ; the plants were
sent over in tin cases by the best English
growers. The vegetable growth was prodigi-
ously quick, and required constant pruning and
renewal of soil. I have seen a rose in bloom
which had only budded three weeks previously.

Among the annuals the balsams attained the
greatest perfection ; the blossoms of the pink
and white variety were as large as those of the
variegated camellia. The balsam grows wild
all over the country, but the exotic seed only
answers for one season ; planted a second time,
you have the simple flower, which grows wild.
It is the same with the chrysanthemum, which
is also indigenous. The latter is ornamental

THE MOON-PLANT. 265

even if carelessly cultivated, coming out in a
profusion of small yellow blossoms. It was
odd to see it blossom by the side of what in
England would be called Summer plants.

A delicate, sensitive plant, which grew along
the ground, was one of my favourites. The
delicate leaves were of a fine green, but if
swept over by the hand their beauty vanished,
and a few dry sticks were alone visible. In
this country Nature appears to delight in con-
trasting her colours ; the tall bright yellow
acacia, overtopped the gorgeous crimson poin-
settia and clouds of pure blue convolvuli, grew
by its side. It was a treat to open the windows
in the fresh early morning, and look upon the
hundreds of azure eyes which were drinking in
the colour of the sky. Sometimes at night,
when the very air seemed aglow, I used to step
out to see the pure white moon-flower ; the
blossom was at least eight inches across, and
emitted a delightful perfume. It is a kind of
convolvulus. The juice of the moon-plant is
mentioned in ancient Hindoo poetry as fit for
the sustenance of hermits. Gardening in India
is a great and very wholesome pleasure.

266

CHAPTER XIL

Difficulties of Driving — Red Dust — Venerable Groves —
Temples and Dharam Solas— The Dheer's Well— The
Edgar — Churches and Chapels — Refuges for Lepers —
The Jack-tree — Jungle Creepers — Drives about the
Camp — Uses of the Acacia-tree — The Commissariat
Lines — Intelligent Elephants — Cultivation of Cotton
— Camping Parties — Fashionable Resort — Scene at
the Band Stand — Dogs Military and Civilian — Jam-
bottee

UNTIL I got accustomed to the constant
turmoil which went on, I found driving
very fatiguing. To begin with, there was either
the insufficiently protected viaduct over the
fosse to be crossed, or we had to face the dark
way, the light in Durga's shrine, the sharp turns
of the main guard, and the earthworks. Then
the roads, although remarkably good, were
constantly blocked by herds of cattle going to
and fro to water, bullock-carts, tumbrils, and
waggons laden with cotton. As for the natives,
they appeared desirous of being run over, or at
least to consider that it was not their duty to

ARAB HORSES. 267

avoid an accident. It was the duty of the
Gora-wallers to clear the way — black, keen-
sighted men, who even in the dark could dis-
tinguish small objects. (In consequence of their
perfect vision, Sepoys beat the English soldiers
in firing at long range.) They were as active
as monkeys, and were continually jumping up
and down, shouting, running beside the horses,
or waving white dusters, which I came to
understand meant rocks ahead.

Fortunately, Arab horses are very courageous-
and steady ; not even the fierce lightning, the
glow of the blacksmith's or the baker's ovens,
the flaming piles which on festive occasions are
set by the roadside, or the torchlight processions
accompanied by the shrieks and groans of bar-
baric music, daunting them. But in India
horses get accustomed to the vicinity of flames,
for every evening a heap of brushwood is
kindled in their stables, in order to destroy
inosquitos and other flies.

Belgaum is situated upon ferruginous clay
stone, and no one who arrives there in the hot
weather, before the rains, can fail to be aston-
ished at the red hue which pervades the land-
scape. The top soil is completely pulverized,
and everything — hedges and trees, roads, and
houses — is covered with it ; and when lit up

2 08 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

by the glowing rays of a setting sun, the effect
produced is quite weird-like. This red dust is
destructive to wearing apparel.

Two roads led to the camp and downs, which
were above two miles from the fort. One or
the other was generally our destination. If we
passed out by the smaller gate we crossed a
charming piece of broken ground, dotted over
with groups of palms, and solitary trees of pro-
digious growth. There was, for instance, the
mango, so like the Spanish chestnut, the banyan,
and others of the fig tribe, but most beautiful
of all were the great trembling clumps of bam-
boo, vestiges of the thick jungle from which the
place takes its name, Belgaum signifying Bam-
boo Town. These canes are so hard that they
can with difficulty be cut, and some of them
contain so much silica that upon striking them
with a steel sparks are produced. They serve
a hundred purposes, amongst others those of
physic-bottles and pens, and replace the whale-
bone used in ladies' dresses. Beyond the town
the plains are upon a larger scale. The single
trees were replaced by venerable groves, with
gnarled and far-stretching branches, which the
the natives call topes. Sometimes their boles
are hollow, or curiously twisted and distorted.
In their solemn shade rose Hindoo temples and

THE dheer's well. 269

altars, Mahomedan mosques, and here and there
a Dharam Sala (Dharam is a Sanskrit word of
many meanings, in this instance signifying hall).
These places of refuge are open to travellers of
every rank and creed, who have nothing to do
but to mount the wide steps, throw down their
few possessions under the groined corridor, or
seek the deeper gloom of the Sala. Some of
them are handsome buildings, either erected by
the neighbouring townspeople, or built by pri-
vate individuals, who thus endeavour to work
out their salvation in another state of existence
into which they are to be introduced by a new
birth. There is always a well near at hand,
often a tank, and sometimes they are very
picturesque objects. In Indian romances the
Dharam Sala is the theatre of all sorts of strange
events and queer encounters, and when I looked
upon the different groups of people I used to
wonder if they too had pathetic tales to tell, or
stirring events to recount. In unfrequented
places the Dharam Sala is a mere mud hut.

Before the camp is reached we pass the
Dheer's well, which, although now dry, is care-
fully preserved as a relic of ancient times, when
the present town of Belgaum was not. It is to
this spot that the secret passage from the fort
is said to lead — why, no one can tell. Behind it

270 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

•were some comfortable bungalows, with hand-
some gardens, shaded by some trees. To the
right rose the Edgar, where on certain days the
Mahomedans worship ; and then the large Pro-
testant church. The latter is built of brick,
and not badly designed, but, alas ! its founda-
tions are imperfect. Yet it is quite a new build-
ing, and cost a vast sum of money. A Scotch
church, a small establishment of teaching sisters,
and two Roman Catholic chapels, cluster to-
gether in amity, the latter being a branch from
the establishment at Bombay, and the officiating
priests, who are English gentlemen, exceedingly
painstaking.

At a short distance from the town, in an ob-
scure spot, good men have established a small
refuge for lepers, in which the unfortunate
creatures, who have generally very large appe-
tites, are fed, cleansed, and taught a little.
Such institutions are now springing up in many
towns, but it is not long since many of these
miserable beings were secretly burnt, and even
buried alive by their fellow-men, and even now
numbers of these pariahs drag their weary limbs
to some sacred stream, the Ganges, if possible,
and drown themselves, fully persuaded that by
so doing they ensure themselves a healthy body
in the next sphere of existence. At some dis-

AN INDIAN ST. JOHN'S WOOD. 271

tance there was another Roman Catholic edifice,
under the sway of the Archbishop of Goa, the
priests of which were very jealous of their
English brethren. We were told by our Portu-
guese servants that it would be considered an
offence on their parts if they held any communi-
cation with the English Roman Catholic clergy.

The camp is backed by long lines of magnifi-
cent barracks, a region of bungalows and mess-
rooms — a kind of Indian St. John's Wood, a
labyrinth of fine broad red roads, beautiful gar-
dens, and green compounds, to scarcely one of
which the entrance was not guarded by a fine
pair of curiously carved Jain pillars — alas !
whitewashed — which had stood for centuries
side by side in some sacred temple, until it had
been despoiled by the iconoclast Mahomedans.
These bungalows are the property of private
individuals, but are subject to certain regula-
tions, being under the authority of military
rule, and no civilian can set up his household
gods in one of them, if it is required for an officer.
When a new regiment arrives great are the
heart-burnings, and the frequent changes always
reminded me of a game at u My ladies' toilette."

Some of the steep roads about this region
were shaded by beautiful timber-trees, which
frequently met overhead. At certain seasons

272 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

their beauty was enhanced by the parasites which
cling to them, among which were many orchids.
The vegetation is somewhat different from
that in the fort. The wood of the useful teak,
which here spreads its great leaves, is as dur-
able as that of oak, which it resembles in grain,
but the colour is much paler. It bears a re-
markable blossom, the flowers growing in long
spikes, and giving a grey hue to the tree. There
was also the jack-tree, most valuable for its
hard wood, which attains a great height, and
roots itself firmly in the earth, with the evident
intention of standing for centuries. The fruit
grows upon stout foot-stalks, and projects from
the trunk and thickest branches. Oddly
enough, the position of the fruit varies with the
age of the tree, being borne first on the
branches, then on the trunk, and in old trees
on the roots. When the latter is the case, the
fruit bursts through the earth and discloses
itself, and is considered to possess superior
flavour. When half grown, the fruit sus-
pended from the branches is of a ruddy brown,
and at a little distance resemble foxes' brushes.
When full-grown, the coarse rind becomes
green. An average-sized jack fruit weighs
forty pounds. There were many splendid
jungle creepers, slightly coarse in substance, if

DRIVES ABOUT THE CAMP. 273

examined, but remarkable for their vigour and
glorious colour, such as the trumpet-creeper,
an orange red ; one with a beautiful lilac flower,
the name of which I never learnt ; and the more
delicate red purple bougainville, more leafy,
however, and not so vivid in hue as in Algeria,
where the climate appears to suit it better.

The drives about the camp were charming ;
we gave home names to the bits of blue country,
which, framed at the end of long avenues,
looked so far away. There was the hill of
Jellergur, rising all solitary from the plain, like
the lone Soracte — that was our Italian view.
To the east was disclosed a blue ridge of hill,
with rich, far-stretching woods at its feet — Mal-
vern from the Ledbury Hills ; and, turning to
the west, the rising forest and the purple peaks
made us sigh for the old halls of our kinsfolk. -

With all its beauty and fresh breezes, a resi-
dence in the camp has some drawbacks, particu-
larly in being exposed to the utmost fury of
the monsoon, and because the houses, built when
Belgaum did not belong to the Bombay Presi-
dency, are all turned the wrong way, as far as
the weather is concerned, in order to suit the
Madras monsoon. Worst of all, there is a
deficiency of water. Many compounds have no
wells, and when water has to be fetched, adieu

VOL. I. T

274 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

to all idea of a really good garden, unless much
money is spent upon it.

The broad road which led from the main gate,
after passing the tank, crossed the moor. Look-
ing back, a fine view of the fort, with its massive
outworks, gates, and ruined towers, was ob-
tained, along with jungle-clad hills to the east,
famous for panthers. There were hedges of
aloe, not the fine large aloe, or striped or blue
tinged, so handsome in many countries, but the
sharp, prickly plant known by the name of
Adam's Needle; and there were numberless
varieties of the acacia, some of them with
spikes of white flowers, others yellow, one a
small-leafed tree, bearing bunches of gold, like
buttercups. The most remarkable variety was
a tree which bore clusters of a cream-coloured
vellum-like substance, shaped like great claws.
Another kind, which was very insignificant in
appearance, was very fragrant. Many of these
acacias go to sleep so early that at first I
imagined that they were dying for want of water,
so shrivelled did they look ; but on passing them
next morning, they were as fresh and green as
possible. All the acacia tribe yield gum, and the
wood being very hard, it is used for carts, and
for the primitive plough of the country. Shaped
into the necessary form by the hand of Nature,

THE COMMISSARIAT LINES. 275

man has but to cut down a stout branch which
has an angular crook, fasten it behind his
bullock, and guide it across the field, so that it
rips open the earth. The great pods, which
render the acacia ugly when it has dropped its
leaves, and tend to destroy the beautiful effect
of the fresh foliage, are very useful to the
country people, whose skeleton cattle greedily
devour them when they can obtain no fresh
food.

The commissariat lines were soon reached.
Sometimes when driving alone, I got out to
look at the animals. A few horses, but many
mules, are employed ; handsome creatures rang-
ed together in open sheds. There were rows
of patient bullocks of the Brahman type,
some of them of a beautiful cream colour, with
glossy skins and very large, handsomely-formed
horns, which in these animals are considered a
great point. They came from the north of
India, and were worth, at least, sixty guineas a
couple. Then there were camels, very pic-
turesque to look at, but as peevish and perverse
as these creatures are all the world over. I have,
in the Sahara, seen camels whom their owners
have, for the time being, been obliged to aban-
don, in consequence of their determination not
to move on. When this occurs, and it is fre-

T2

276 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

quently the case, some indications of the tribe
to whom they belong is affixed to them, and if
found alive by another tribe, even if enemies,
they are bound to succour them and forward the
animals to their masters. Such is the etiquette
of the desert.

Of course, the elephants were the most interest-
ing. One old fellow with great tusks, clamped
round with iron rings, was known all over the
country. On one occasion, the Commander-in-
chief came, bringing with him an addition of
twelve large animals, which were all tethered in
an open yard. Most sagaciously did they
twinkle their cold, grey eyes, but woe to
anyone who touched their cakes or sugar-cane.
One of these very elephants had killed his
driver because the man had cheated him of a
couple of cakes, of which they get a certain
number each day. These elephants, so exact-
ing as to what is their due, will not take more
than they consider themselves entitled to. The
cakes that remained, when we saw them, they
lifted into a basket or some other receptacle,
storing them for the morning meal, as they
were about to march. A good elephant costs
£100, and its yearly keep is reckoned at £120.*

* Why it should have been introduced I do not remember,
but in one of Professor Max Midler's lectures, there is an

CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 277

Past the commissariat the road split into forks,
one of which turned towards the camp, another
crossed the breezy downs, and a third led to the
point, a pleasant spot where people met to
enjoy the invigorating wind which invariably
set in as the sun declined. I was fond of these
swelling wolds, dotted over with large trees,
principally of the fig order. Nothing could look
more picturesque than the great camping parties
which gathered around them on their way with
cotton from Dharwar to Vingorla, where it
would be shipped. Many and many a bale we
saw there on its way to Manchester. A great
deal of cotton is grown in the district, but not
in the immediate neighbourhood of Belgaum, the
soil not being sufficiently rich. It flourishes best

amusing anecdote respecting an elephant. A monk thus
writes to one of his brethren at home, describing many won-
derful things he has seen in Rome. " You may have heard
how the Pope did possess a monstrous beast called an ele-
phant. The Pope did entertain for this beast a very great
affection, and now behold it is dead. When it fell sick, the
Pope called his doctors about him in great sorrow, and said
to them, ' If it be possible heal my elephant.' Then they
gave the elephant a purge which cost five hundred crowns,
but it did not avail, and so the beast departed, and the
Pope grieves much for his elephant, for it was indeed a
miraculous beast, with a long, long, prodigiously long nose ;
and when it saw the Pope, it kneeled down before him and
said, with a terrible voice, ' Bar, bar, bar !' "

278 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

in the deep black earth around Dharwar, which
is forty miles south of Belgaum, and close to the
frontier of Madras. Until lately, the cotton in
our part of the Deccan was raised from New
Orleans seed acclimatized. At one time Egyp-
tian seed was sown, but the quality produced
was too fine to be remunerative. The cultiva-
tion of exotic cotton is now found to be a mis-
take, and its use was everywhere diminished.
The first crop from the fresh seed comes up well,
but after that the quality deteriorates. There
are 300,000 acres under cultivation in the
southern Mahratta country. The same soil will
only produce good cotton once in three years.

The long narrow waggons or tumbrils were
drawn up so as to protect the bullocks from the
wind. Many of them were handsome animals,
in good condition, eating their hay with serene
satisfaction. Some of them had collars of tink-
ling brass, or, possibly, necklaces of cowrie
shells, put round their necks, either to ensure
good luck, or to scare away any malignant
goblin who might approach them in the
deep shade of the spreading trees. I dearly
loved to pass these encampments at night, when
the blazing fires cast their lurid light around;
and large caldrons, set on stoves with red-hot
embers under them, were throwing off clouds of

EVENING DRIVE. 279

white steam from the seething rice or other
grain, whilst groups of wild-looking men sat
clown in circles, beguiling the time by chant-
ing some very popular legend in a melancholy
minor key. Sometimes we caught the fragrant
odour of spices from a cargo of ginger, pepper-
pods, or cardamum seeds on its way, like the
cotton, over the great ridge of the Western
Ghats, and down into the Concan to the sea.

The favourite evening drive was to the point
(there is a scandal-point at every station), where
all the beauty and fashion of Belgaum assem-
bled, in order to discuss the news of the day,
arrange their plans for anticipated gaieties, and
drink in the cool evening breeze. The point
commanded an extensive and diversified view.
The wide expanse of down and moor was broken
by valleys, strips of wood, and little pools,
which, like mirrors, reflected the beauty of the
sky, smiling patches of blue, rosy red or orange,
purple or black, as might be. We always
turned our faces to the west, in order to catch
the lingering daylight. In the far distance rose
the spectral ghats, which cut us off from the
fertile Concan and the Arabian Sea. On the
nearer hills we could mark the rough jungle by
which they were crested. These hills abound
with game, big and little, but they are not only

280 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

famous for the sport they afford, they produce
the garnet, or carbuncle, as the stone is called
when over a certain size ; and in the beds of
the mountain streams gold-dust is found, not,
it is true, to any large amount; but a man
searching for it is sure of gaining at least a
shilling a day. My informant — and he was a
good geologist — told me that from the nature
of the strata, so similar to that of Golconda, and
the crystals it contains, he doubted not that
diamonds also existed in it.

Cheeta Hill, as one of this chain is called, is a
very paradise for the naturalist, abounding in
beautiful birds, curious insects, lovely ferns,
rare orchids, and curious pitcher-plants. Alas !
snakes are also plentiful, and at certain seasons
the deep jungle is most unwholesome. There is
a race-course near the point, but nothing had
been stirring on it lately. In an Indian station
the amusements vary according to the pluck
and purses of the officers stationed in it. A
year or two ago a good pack of hounds was
kept up. The sport was excellent, the country
open, and there was plenty of foxes, to say no-
thing of the jackals, which afford good running.

During the previous monsoon, a gentleman
met with a strange adventure near the point.
As he was passing along in his dog-cart, to his

CLIMATE OF BELGAUM. 281

surprise he saw something splashing about in a
puddle by the side of the road, and on examina-
tion found that it was a young alligator. He
got it carried to his quarters, where it was
quickly provided with the largest tub the camp
could supply, where, however, the creature only
lived for two or three days. Alligators have
been known to travel overland for considerable
distances, and this specimen was supposed to
have come from the Falls of Gokdk, forty miles
off, where they abound. But we afterwards
heard that there were several in the tank, so
perhaps after all he was only out upon a short
exploring expedition.

The climate of Belgaum is delightful. In the
middle of the day, during the cold weather, it
was quite exceptional if the thermometor rose
above seventy degrees ; and it was equally so
if it rose above ninety degrees during the hot
season. The evenings and nights were almost
invariably cool, occasionally cold. I am speak-
ing of the temperature of a large room shaded
from the sun, but never closed. Still the
climate is undoubtedly trying, on account of
the sudden change which takes place shortly
before sunset, when the hot wind which travels
over the great plains of India ceases to blow,
and is succeeded by the cool breeze, sometimes

282 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

very strong, which has passed for thousands of
miles over the Indian Ocean. In five minutes
there will sometimes be a difference of seven-
teen degrees. During the three months' mon-
soon there were occasional breaks of a few
days, when the weather was perfect, the
temperature being cool, the air clear, and ten-
derly bright. We used to liken it to that of a
North-country September in England ; but even
in Western India there was no escaping the
dreary influence of sullen November. This was
our Winter. Then the trees looked dead, and
an east wind set in, not exactly cold, but so
searching that it found out every sensitive part
of the body, and dried the skin like frost. This
wind is very fatal to animals, especially to
horses and dogs ; nor is it less dangerous to
man. " A stroke of the wind," as it is called,
produces paralysis, from which many people
never recover. At this season all windows
which look towards the east are closed. The
days were certainly unpleasant. The angry
sun was seldom seen save when, huge and
fiery, it sank down in a horizon of dull, but
fervid orange red.

By way of compensation the heavens at night
were, beyond expression, grand. Returning
home in an evening, we had " sultry Sinus,"

THE HEAVENS AT NIGHT. 283

the largest star in the sky, flashing with ever-
varying colour. Orion, reclining on his side,
calmly regarded us. Venus almost outshone the
moon, and when the moon was full, it rose
with a flush of silvery rose-colour, fainter, but
as fine as the glow which heralds in the sun.
As time went on, Orion rose upon his feet, and
the Southern Cross came slanting above the
horizon ; but when Orion was sprawling at the
zenith, then that most striking and brilliant of
constellations stood erect. In this part of the
world the latest sunsets occur at the end of
June and the beginning of July, when, for
several days, the luminary sets at forty-one
minutes past six. The earliest are at the end
of November and the beginning of December,
when the sun sinks below the horizon at twenty-
two minutes past five (Bombay time).

There is no evening like the evening which
succeeds an English Summer's day. In the
North of Europe they are deferred too long.
It is unpleasant to go to bed like a naughty
child, with the light in one's eyes, but the
Indian night closes in too soon. There are no
violet eves, there is no gloaming, the great orb
disappears behind the distant hills whose out-
lines sharpen and grow black, cut for a moment
against a glowing background, some large

284 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

star straggles to appear, the sky grows green,
the fells purple, and the landscape grey. You
are taken by surprise, for you are scarcely
able to distinguish the features of the friend
you are talking with. You hurriedly shake hands
with him, there is a general flutter, horse-cloths
are rolled up (all the year round the horses wear
their fules whilst standing still), lamps are
lighted, and away you go over the dark moors.
The band-stand, where the regiments take it
in turns to play, is another general gathering-
place. For one half of the year the effect of the
Grecian building in which the performance takes
place is marred by the matting with which it
is necessary to shelter it from sun and storm.
It is set down on a pleasant moor, with long
lines of barracks in the background. Twice
every week the little wrorld repaired to this
spot. Bullock-carts come full of children, little
things in different stages of growth, the lowest
being a tiny creature in robes of white, who
get out with their tall, robust ayahs, gay
in scarlet vests, white savis, and gold orna-
ments, talkative and bold. They file off with
the elder children under their wings, to have
their gossip, whilst the muslin bundle follows,
carried — oh ! so carefully — by a tall, clark man,
who keeps the lace veil over its face, and re-

CANINE SOCIETY. 285

gards it tenderly. Meanwhile the little folks
kiss and quarrel, and talk over their magic-
lantern parties, whilst their parents dwell upon
the past delights of ball or Badminton.

And then the dogs, they composed a society
of their own, and I have no doubt that then-
reflections were as sensible, if less artificial, than
those of their so-called betters. There were
the military dogs, many of which were of the
bull-dog order. The younger the master the
more hideous the pet ; some of them being,
indeed, of priceless ugliness — perfect gems in
their way. There was the collector's dog, long-
legged and lean, looking mildly at the world
through half-closed eyes. He was a gentle-
manly dog. The judge's animal was broad-
chested, round-headed, and clever, a good fel-
low, although he growled, and now and then
responded to a pat by a snap. He never meant
to hurt, it was his way. The Padre's dogs
were intellectual and hungry. The canine
civilians varied in appearance and character,
some of them being stumpy and obese, with
projecting teeth, and white trimmings to their
faces, and were inclined to be uppish ; but Mabel
— I ought to have mentioned that distinguished
member of the Royal Geographical Society first
of all — she was military. Though young in

286 31 Y YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

years, Mabel's brow was wrinkled by travel and
by thought. When her black lip curled with
scorn at the ignorance displayed by her com-
panions, it disclosed sharp fangs ; but would not
the gentlest temper ever possessed by man or
beast have been soured, had its owner been
obliged to trot in puppyhood two thousand
miles over the burning sands of Africa. As for
Grouse and Drake, they also had seen the world,
and sitting down in the attitude of sphinxes,
they looked on and marvelled at the airs and
graces of their juniors. Bustle snuffed about
with a divided mind. He delighted in the
society of ladies, but then there were chameleons
to hunt. Once upon this very spot had he
chased and eaten one of these creatures, and
never had he forgotten the exquisite morsel.
Let none of my four-legged friends be angry at
this allusion to them. Had I not regarded
them with favour, I should have left them un-
noticed, for I had nothing to do with curs.

Occasionally one or two native chiefs honoured
the band with their presence. There was Jam-
bottee (called, like a highland proprietor, by
the name of his territory), who belonged to the
Jeunesse Doree of Western India, and aped
the European. He came upon the ground in an
equipage which he had purchased from a de-

THE INDIAN JEUNESSE DOREE. 287

parted brigadier — a dirty carriage and ill-
groomed horses ; but he did not drive them
badly. He was quite a youth ; so much that his
face, had it been white, might have been called
chubby ; but, as it was, its dusky hue was relieved
by the great, soft, intelligent eyes. His costume
was most remarkable, consisting, to begin with,
of his dandy half-high patent leather shoes, of
grey-ribbed stockings, of so precise a fit that he
must have sent a model of his calfless leg to
Nottingham, gartered under the knee, and
mounting up, until they disappeared under the
folds of a small cotton sheet (a Duthie cloth),
which was wound round his body ; his white
waistcoat and jacket, resembling those of a
garcon in a cafe ; and lastly his Eastern turban,
sometimes made of soft pink woollen, of the
hue which is always associated with raspberry
ice, at others consisting of enormous lengths of
soft muslin, red, chocolate, or blue striped with
gold, artistically wound into innumerable folds,
and put on with a slight inclination to the left
ear. This young gentleman was tolerably
educated, and could read and write with
facility. He was not very rich, his estates being
said to bring him in about £5000 a year. I
was somewhat curious about this youth, and
one day asked a friend who was a little ac-

288 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

quainted with him why he did not reside at
Jambottee, which is a tolerably large town.
" Probably because he is afraid of being poison-
ed," was the reply. " If you inquire, you will
find that most of the chiefs in this part of the
country are young ; a family of means like,
above all things, to have charge of a youthful
heir, by whom they manage to get pretty pick-
ings. I was in a native state only a few months
ago where there is no doubt that the boyish
chief, who died suddenly, and was burnt before
the British authorities were informed of the
event, Avas poisoned." Poor Jambottee ! I
looked with commiseration at his smooth round
face.

"What does he do all day? What is his
home life V I demanded.

My friend laughed. " Probably a couple of
hours ago he was sitting all but naked upon
the floor, ladling melted ghiinto his mouth with
one hand, and throwing rice into it with the
other." I looked horrified. "And when he
goes home he will most likely shut himself up
along with his prime minister, and drink arrack
until the small hours. Such is the life of many
a chief." Alas for Jambottee !

Sometimes the moon would rise before we
were scattered by the " The British Grenadier,"

MOONLIGHT. 289

and the succeeding strains of the National
Anthem. First it was but a tiny crescent,
scarcely visible in the after-glow, but as it
waxed larger and larger the more delightful
grew the homeward drive, which lay for the
most part under tall trees. Such a soft light
fell upon the swelling hills and dark groves
that one could count every trembling leaf in the
great bouquets of bamboo. The moonlight,
indeed, we agreed, was, in this latitude, not
so positively bright as in our own country ;
the shadows thrown were not so black ; the
lines which marked out landscape, mosque, and
temple not so sharp ; but the whole atmosphere
was alight with a gentle glow, which was
exquisitely beautiful.

On the eve of one full moon, book in hand, I
left the drawing-room, and sauntered into the
maidan, where the Pir's tomb stood, and, out of
curiosity, I looked at the print, which I found I
could read with ease. The old fort by moon-
light was wonderfully picturesque ; and some-
times in these glorious evenings we mounted the
ramparts, or crept through the ancient Jaina
temples, in which the shadowy gods appeared
to regard us sternly.

VOL. I. U

290

CHAPTER XIII.

Old Mosque — The Nag, or Cobra Tank — Shsirpur — Popu-
lation — Jewell ers — Curiosities — Sacred Stones — An-
cient Pedigrees — Thugs — Garden Parties — Travelling
Merchants — Men from the Cannara Jungles — Plants
and Tame Animals brought for sale — Conjurers and
Snake-charmers — Indian Jugglers puzzled — A Charm
against Violence — Mahomedan Burying-places —
Amusements of the Soldiers — Native Troops — My
First Christmas in India.

WE occasionally visited some interesting
spot in the neighbourhood, and one day
drove to a place with a very long name, which
I have forgotten. The hard metal road, up
and down hill, was a severe tug for the horses.
Our object was to see an old mosque, and one
of the underground reservoirs peculiar to India.
In some parts of the country they are works of
considerable magnificence, but this was a very
humble specimen of the kind. Although it was
said to be very ancient, and had once been
the nucleus of a town of some local impor-

OLD MOSQUE. 291

tance, the only remains were a cluster of mud
hovels. An elderly man, pointing to the -well,

remarked to G that it was very old. A

wide flight of steps, covered in, conducted us
to a broad landing-place, with a stone screen,
and a double set of steps led to the deep black
pool, while overhead were the remains of an
arched roof. It was an oblong building, with
two stories of galleries running round it, orna-
mented by deep niches formed in the wall, the
largest of which faced the stairs. When these
were set with idols, it must, in the shadowy
twilight, have been an awe-inspiring place, and
the effect still more curious if brilliantly lighted
up, and tilled with worshippers.

The mosque, which was time-worn, had, in
our opinion, originally been a Jain temple.
The Mahomedans were in the habit of taking
possession of such buildings, and adapting them
to their own points of the compass, to fit them
for the celebration of their own worship. Many
people may remember the crooked matting and
oddly- placed pulpits in St. Sophia.

On the other side of the present Belgaum,
there was an open tank, called the Nag, or
Cobra-tank, near which some irregular mounds
marked the site of the older town. The country
here was flooded during the rains, when it be-

u 2

292 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

came brilliantly green with the springing rice.
A raised road led to Dhorwar, a military station
about forty miles south, on the confines of the
Madras Presidency, and near it began the great
Cannara jungles, which stretch along for up-
wards of three hundred miles.

Sometimes we drove on this solitary road for
the sake of the dogs, when the great twin
brothers, and Bustle (busiest of all) were in
their element, splashing in and out of the lakes
and pools after rats and bandicoots. The town
of Sharpur* lay in this direction, unseen, but
very near the road, its low sloping roofs quite
hidden by trees, which swept down to the very
ground. Sharpur is a place of some interest,
and belongs to a native chief, whom we some-
times encountered, driving a ricketty old car-
riage, with two gora-wallees behind, one of
whom was tall, and wore a white turban, while
the other was small, with a red covering to his
head. On State occasions he was followed by
a guard of seven or eight men, with blunder-
busses, arrayed in dirty white cotton, who
scrambled along on tattoos. The walls of the
town, which at no distant period had been in
complete repair, had at each end an arched
gateway, flanked by stout round battlemented

* Sharpur means King's-town.

SHARPUR. 293

towers, pierced with narrow slits for jangals.
I used to fancy that the town establishment of
the Balowtry and Alowtry would be found very
perfect in Sharpur, the place had such an old-
world look. There were some wide, suburban-
looking streets, lined by houses, which were
nearly completely closed, though one occasion-
ally caught a glimpse into a large dim court-
yard. Under the verandahs, which were very
wide and long, the women were employed in
weaving savis, and sorting and winding the bril-
liant silks with which they were to be striped.
A few children, with entire caps of fresh flowers,
and ornaments strange to me, would roll about
in the dust along with the dogs and a few
scraggy fowls (natives have a prejudice against
keeping poultry).

Along the principal street there flowed an
endless stream of men with very large turbans,
and all in white. The primitive population of
this Hindoo town were Lyngates, and there
was none of the restless mixture of races which
compose that of Belgaum. Even my unprac-
tised eye could perceive that the tall handsome
men, who walked calmly along with dignified
gait, and complexions of tender brown, were of
higher caste than those I had been in the habit
of regarding.

294 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

The people of Sharp ur, which is a rich place,
deal in pearls and precious stones, and work in
gold and silver, making not only personal
ornaments of handsome design, but supplying
half Western India with gods and goddesses,
and driving a gainful trade as bankers and
money-lenders. The improvident Hindoo,
though he will not part with his land, will
mortgage it to its utmost value, and the
expenses incurred at marriage festivals and on
the numerous holidays frequently plunge him
into difficulties which not only last for his own
life, but embarrass his son, who, by ancient
Hindoo custom, is answerable for his father's
debts. It was the habit of the sowars,
as the goldsmiths are called, to bear their
wealth upon their persons ; and those who wish
to see pearl earrings and gold bangles, must go
to Sharpur, where I envied many a young man
his wristlets.

One of the curiosities of the place is a mosque,
a handsome building, which has never been
roofed in, and was commenced just when the
Mahomedan power received its death-blow.
There lie the clean-cut white stones, just as
they were left by the masons, the pillared aisles,
weather-stained and falling into ruins. The
sacred Hindoo buildings were assembled to-

SACRED BUILDINGS. 295

gether in one particular part of the town. On
one side of the street was a lofty, open Linga
shrine, and on the opposite side, at a little dis-
tance from each other, were three long and
lofty halls, into which the light of day was
only admitted through the curiously-carved
high and red-stained doorways, which opened
from under verandahs. We gazed into these,
but did not attempt to enter. In one of them
we observed a Lingham, a symbol of the power
of Shiva, at least twelve feet high, covered with
brightly-burnished metal — probably a mixture
which is common in a country where there is
abundance of copper and brass. A large black
stone figure had sole possession of the second
hall ; and the third was lighted up and filled
with worshipping devotees, who were adoring
a many-limbed black and gilded idol.

The palace of the chief was a large, three-
storied wooden erection, exceedingly dirty and
dilapidated, but about which there was some
handsome carving. In driving, I often noticed
the painted and whitewashed stones, set up in
the fields, some of them boundary stones, others
placed about in order to ensure good luck to
the growing crops. During one particular
month, in returning home through the gathering
darkness, the bright light of a small lantern,

296 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

swung from a pole, was always to be seen,
evidently so placed as to shine upon some
object concealed in the ditch.

A trifling accident to one of the horses near
this spot enabled me to gratify my curiosity as
to what it might be. I found three black
stones, placed one upon the other, well greased,
and encircled with flowers, the sacred filets
placed round them by some procession of
peasants — sacrificial filets, prescribed by the
gods of boundaries, one of whom is called by
the long name of Yajnavalkya. The melted
libations of ghi, which deluged these particular
stones, had perhaps been rendered still more
acceptable to the powers above by the addition
of a little salt. Salt is often used in the
temples, but it must be made by solar evapora-
tion. The gods will not be propitiated by the
article which Liverpool exports to their shores
at so cheap a rate. I have been told that the
ryot, or peasant, if questioned as to his feelings
on sacred subjects, will declare that his idea of
the proper way of carrying out his religion is to
do right, and to worship the village god and
the sanctified stones. The owners of land
have the greatest objection to part with it,
considering such a step a religious offence, and
maintaining that it is not theirs to dispose of —

SERVANTS WITH LONG PEDIGREES. 297

that they are mere tenants of the god to whom
it was made over centuries ago. It is often
found that the very servants in your house
have a pedigree in land which many a rich man
in England would give half his wealth to pos-
sess. A servant of G 's, in Sattara, once

asked for leave of absence in order to settle
some family claims upon a portion of land which
he had inherited, and the judge who had
examined and given his decision upon the affair,
told him that the land in question had been
granted to the family for military service done
nearly three hundred years ago. We knew
that the puttah-wallee was a gentleman pos-
sessed of landed property, because he was
always in hot water with regard to the money
he had borrowed upon it ; and our malee used
to run away to his own village periodically, in

order to sow his land, leaving G lamenting ;

but he was generally pursued and brought back
by the patel of the place.

We often passed the long, low, white jail,
built on the spot occupied by the English
during the siege, and in which I believe some
older building is still embedded. Close by,
on ground torn, cut, and disturbed, rises an
obelisk, and some table-tombs, the marble
slabs of which, that would have told their

298 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

tale, bad been stolen for curry-stones. Tbe
inscriptions cut upon tbe pliable stone bave been
worn away by tbe action of time and tbe
weatber, but one name survives, tbat of Lieut.
Dormer, witb the date — 1820, or 21.

Some years ago tbis jail was full of Thugs,
wbo bad been tbe scourge of tbe country from
Belgaum to Mysore. One old man among tbem
confessed to upwards of three hundred murders,
and it was from bis mouth that " The Confes-
sions of a Thug " were taken down. Some of
these wretched worshippers of the cruel Bavani
used to work in the garden of the officer who
was then at the head of the district police, and
he was quite fond of relating their various deeds
of villainy.

One evening, as we were returning home, we
met a procession of people bearing lanterns, and
carrying a kind of pagoda, covered witb white
calico, trimmed with bows and streamers, the
occupant of which, a dead Lyngate, was taking
bis last ride, seated cross-legged, tbe position
in which be was about to be buried.

Tbe society in Belgaum was tolerably exten-
sive— a great advantage — as, after visits of cere-
mony bad been exchanged, it left people at
liberty to choose the companionship of kindred
souls. The garrison was composed of a battery

SOCIETY IN BELGAUM. 29(J

of artillery, one European and two native regi-
ments, besides a certain number of military men
holding special appointments, and a good many
civilians. The knot of people gathered together
in the fort might be looked upon as residents,
as they were independent of regimental changes.
When I first arrived there were a good many
garden-parties, pleasant gatherings, where
people met together to play at Badminton, or
lawn tennis, or to talk, and sip cool beverages,
whilst listening to the band. Sometimes these
entertainments would conclude with a little
dancing. One gallant bachelor colonel, whose
compound was furnished with magnificent trees,
spent a small fortune in hanging their gnarled
boughs with lanterns, the effect of which
was very pretty. When the rains came on,
this kind of society passed away, and the
afternoons wTere often enlivened by the arrival
of travelling merchants from the interior of
India — cunning fellows — who knew that, when
a second deluge seemed to be impending, people
were sure not only to be at home, but would be
tempted to look at their goods, and buy from
sheer ennui. Those who dealt in the more cost! v
wares would arrive in covered carts, drawn by
reeking bullocks, from which they brought forth
great bundles, which they would open in the

300 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

verandah, spreading about their contents until it
looked like a fancy bazaar. They had goods
collected in every part of India — shawls and
coloured embroidery, silks and satins, useful
washing silks, inlaid boxes, and balls painted
over in the most delicate patterns, the parent
one as big as a pummalo, and containing a pro-
geny which gradually dwindled in size until the
last one was little larger than a pea. These
balls were irresistible attractions, although
perfectly useless. Among the other hetero-
geneous articles were jewels, silver filigree,
fans, neck scarfs, Cora silk, tempting toys, and
boxes of ivory letters neatly cut, and brightly-
coloured objects, some of them curious and
strange. Oh ! the temptation of such a dazzling
collection upon a wet day ! How different was
their liquid Hindustani and soft voices, when
compared with the harsh Marathi I was accus-
tomed to hear! Rough people would bring
bison and buffalo horns, twisted into many
shapes — though the natural form was the best
— so highly polished that one's distorted image
was reflected from their surface. Some of them
were delicately engraved with fanciful designs.
To be of use, however, they require to be
mounted, and they are sometimes set in chased
gold.

PRE-HISTORIC RACES. 301

More interesting were the savage-looking men
who arrived with ferns and orchids from the
Cannara jungles, which stretch their vast length
along the Malabar coast. Canarese, Tamil, and
Telugu are all spoken in Mahratta, though quite
distinct languages, and not derived from Sans-
krit. These Canarese people were small and
thin, and as black as it was possible for men to
be. They are believed to be the descendants of
the unconquered aboriginal tribes driven into the
jungles by the invading Aryan settlers. It is
reckoned that the pre-historic races now scattered
over mountains, or living in far-spreading forests
and deep jungles, number twelve millions. In
every part of India where the soil has not been
reclaimed, are found relics of the aboriginal
races, more or less barbarous. I never saw
these wild beings without indulging in endless
speculations as to their history.*

* The code of Manu, supposed to be written 900 B.C.,
gives laws as to the property the conquered aborigines may
be allowed to possess : —

" Their abode must be out of towns. Their sole property
is to consist of dogs and asses. Their clothes should be
those left by the dead. Their ornaments rusty iron. They
must roam from place to place. No respectable person
must hold intercourse with them. They are to perform the
office of executioner on all criminals condemned to death
by the king. For this duty they may retain the bedding,
the clothes, and the ornaments of those executed." — "Land
of the Vedas." By the Rev. R. Percival.

302 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

The water-ferns they brought attain the
height of ten or twelve feet, and it was neces-
sary to put them into pots, and sink them in
the ground. They had also delicately-swathed
little bunches of the gold, silver, copper, lace,
palm and other ferns. One of them, the true
oak-fern, is a very curious production ; its root,
a great bit of mouldy-looking wood, throwing
up large, dead-looking leaves, which shelter the
green fronds. The orchids, lilac and white-
blossomed, G bound, along with moss, upon

the trees, and they flourished well. Other people
brought trained animals — monkeys, dogs, and
goats, the former generally got up to represent
Rajahs and their wives, and to act little scenes.
These little creatures were, to all appearance,
well treated, and seemed fond of their masters.
We were also visited by snake-charmers and
conjurers, who came with long bamboos on their
shoulders, from which dangled mysteriously-
filled baskets. They were accompauied by
musicians, who played on a fife, struck the tom-
tom, and clashed the cymbals. Some of their
feats were neatly done, but I never myself
witnessed anything wonderful.

A friend of G 's puzzled a band of these

people, who came to his house, by playing them
a, trick which surprised them not a little. It so

AMUSEMENTS. 303

happened that he had a glass eye, and at the
end of the performance he cried out — " Bah !
you shall see what I can do. You know no-
thing !" Whereupon he dexterously slipped
out the artificial eye, and held it towards them,
they looking on dumb, transfixed with astonish-
ment. With another sweep of the hand he re-
stored the eye to the socket, and regarded them
with an air of conscious superiority. " Wha !
wha ! wha !" they cried, tumbling their posses-
sions anyhow into the baskets, in their haste
to be gone. " Wonderful !" and off they set.

It did not rain incessantly, as, three or four
times a week, we were able to snatch a drive.
The gentlemen amused themselves in many
ways, with whist, pigeon-shooting, and cricket,
a tent being erected at the latter for the benefit
of lady spectators. We frequently drove to
the ground where the shooting was going on,

in order to bring G back, and if he was not

ready, we walked about the breezy down. At
a short distance from the spot, sheltered by
some very old trees, were a couple of ancient
buildings, one of which, with a low dome,
was probably the resting-place of some
holy Pir. Like many a Mahomedan building,
it was freely marked with impressions of the
human hand, just dabbed with red or white

304 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

paint, and laid on the wall — the hand, with its
five fingers, being the symbol of despotic power.
On the outside of dwelling-houses this figure is
supposed to act as a charm against violence,
the dwelling and its inmates being placed under
the power of an invincible hand. Its compan-
ion building was also a Mahomedan burial-
place, but it had probably once been a Hindoo
temple, for it had a pyramidal roof. Some say
that the architecture of the Hindoos originated
with the pyramid, in which form it is certain
that the oldest pagodas are built. Near the door
there cropped out of the sward a half-buried
stone, on which the soles of two feet were
marked ; and I afterwards found that it was the
custom formerly to place a memorial so en-
graved upon the spot where suttee had taken
place.

The soldiers' sports, in which some of the
officers joined, were very amusing. One of
these was riding at the ring, in which no great
success was attained. The Yorkshire farrier,
who was quite a character, and used to get pro-
digiously cheered, rode at it as if he were going
to carry off a ton's weight by sheer force.
Some of the young men jumped with much
agility, but I do not fancy that the highest
jump registered, four feet eleven inches, was

MERRY GATHERINGS. 305

anything remarkable. No one succeeded in
picking up the sword at full speed, but many
were skilful in cutting into halves the oranges
placed on bamboo posts as they rode by. The
gunnery was the most interesting spectacle. On
one occasion a gun was taken to pieces, put
together, and fired in one minute and twenty
seconds, which I believe was considered to be
good work. Th e game of polo was frequently
played upon their maidan by the young officers
of the Royal Fusiliers. Some of their little Dec-
can Tats were wonderfully quick and knowing.
On moonlight nights the gallant Colonel
of this regiment would allow his band to play,
when the Christy Minstrels belonging to it
would sing some of their amusing songs. At
these merry gatherings, the Irishmen brought
their floor and danced jigs, and the evening's
entertainment would conclude with blind-man's
buff, played with a will, and led off by the
Colonel, the young officers being blinded by
grotesque caps, which were drawn over the
face. Picnics also took place by the same
magic light ; but these entertainments were,
somehow or other, not quite so successful. The
elders could not double up their legs comfortably
upon the ground, and next day there was sure to
be trouble among the matrons, forks and spoons
VOL. I. X

306 MY TEAR EN* AX INDIAN FORT.

and plates having gone astray, fine napkins
having been exchanged for those of Dhorwar
cotton, and the junior members of the assembly
were certain to have caught cold. Sometimes
Penny Readings, -which it -was necessary to
patronise, took place in the barracks, and plays
v.- ere performed, deep tragedies being followed
by screaming farces. " Lady Audley's Secret "
was performed, the heroine's part being taken
by a handsome sergeant's wife, and the kick
with which she sent her groom husband down
the well was a sight worth seeing.

Society in general went in for innumerable
dinner-parties, and occasional balls. Now and
then a concert was given in aid of some charity,
in which the ladies of the fort distinguished
the. s bv their vocal and instrumental

efforts, pronounced by that great authority, the
Times of India, "to be worthy of the Italian
Opera. "•

The four months' rains passed very quickly.
The largest downfall registered for any single
month was twenty-nine inches, and occurred in
July. The whole amount which fell during the
monsoon was sixtv-two inches, a little above the

.. -age. The most tiresome duty of the season ii
the perpetual care which it is necessary to exercise
in order to prevent books, prints, photograph-.

DEVICES FOR KILLING TIME. 307

wearing apparel — everything, in fact — from be-
coming spotted with blue mould, a calamity which
is certain to befall them, if they are put away.
Woe to the young lady who does not air her
ribbons constantly ! All clothes ought, at this
season, to be worn in turn. I managed to pre-
serve my gloves by a very simple expedient. I
impounded three French plum bottles (which,
by-the-by, I had helped to empty) — glass bottles
made to screw, and rendered, by the addition of
an Indian-rubber ring, perfectly air-tight. One
of these I filled with new gloves and put it
away in a dry place : another was placed upon
my toilette-table and received those which were
in wear ; the third I reserved for the aged and
infirm to use in travelling, for I hold that
wearing gloves keeps the hand cool.

After the rains, another device for killing time
was perpetual Badminton, for which there was
a covered place prepared in the camp. In the
fort, for the occasion, possession was taken of a
large shed, which, by-the-by, had gone through
the Persian campaign. The courts were very
good, and two tiers of empty boilers were s~»
arranged as to form seats which were covered
with cane matting. As long as people were
quiet they were comfortable enough, but when
any individual began to fidget, the boilers

x 2

308 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

vibrated, and a thrill ran through all assem-
bled. At these friendly and pleasant meetings,
each lady, in her turn, sent down refreshments,
and sometimes large luncheon parties were
given.

Belgaum was obliged to get up and shake
itself when the Commander-in-chief declared
his intention of passing through it, during his
tour. The troops on that occasion were re-
viewed ; there were sham fights, and all sorts
of manoeuvres, during which I, for the first
time, saw a native regiment, one of the finest in
the service — the 2nd Grenadiers, lately arrived
from Aden. This regiment held their own
against fearful odds. When at Rongaum, in
the year 1818, they withstood the Mahrattas, who
outnumbered them ten to one. " Tired, hungry,
wounded, and parched with thirst, they fought
with a gallantry which has never been surpass-
ed," so say the despatches of the day. The
Sphinx is embroidered on their colours, in
memory of the fact that they were one of the
two native regiments who served in Egypt, be-
sides which they were also engaged in the battle
of Kinhee, in Persia. Many of the soldiers, too,
have medals for the part they took in the cam-
paign of Abyssinia. They were a remarkably fine,
tall body of men from the north of India. In

THE SECOND GRENADIERS. 30&

full dress they wore a neat little turban, appar-
ently made of the Turkey sugar dear to one's in-
fant heart, and ornamented "with a stiff crimson
bow. This regiment, for many of its exploits,
has well deserved its new title, " The Prince
of Wales's Own Grenadiers."

I do not know if it is the case in other Presi-
dencies, but, in that of Bombay, a native
regiment is permitted to recruit a hundred of its-
men from other parts of India, for the once
war-like Mahrattas have turned to agriculture*
and have deteriorated as soldiers. To me, these
strangers appeared to be magnificent specimens
of humanity, and I must confess that I compared
their majestic gait, shapely heads, fine features,
and flashing eyes with those of the European
soldiers, and to the disadvantage of the latter.
I made a remark upon the subject to an officer
in command of these natives. " You are mis-
taken," he said, " as to their stature ; it is true
that many of the men from the north and
south-east are splendid fellows, but the tallest
man in my regiment is but a little above six
feet three inches — their wide pigamas, flowing
drapery, and picturesque puggrees deceive you
as to their stature." These men are allowed to
wear their native costumes out of hours, and
many of them were exceedingly picturesque. I

310 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

delighted in seeing the different races, and after
a time I fancied myself able to tell from whence
a man came, and that principally from the
mode in which his. hair was arranged. Those
from the Punjaub wore it long, and turned up
into a kind of chignon ; the Sikhs parted theirs
behind, and banded it round the head. The
Jews shaved the hair from off their temple, and
wore short crisp curls behind the ear, with no
gloss upon them. There are numbers of Jewish
soldiers, and being generally men of education
they are pretty sure to rise in a regiment.

One day when the 7th Royal Fusiliers were
reviewed, Grouse and Drake chanced to be with
us, and, seeing the soldiers about to fire, they
rushed in behind a company, a position from
which no calling could induce them to return.
There they stood with their tails straight, and
as stiff as if cast in bronze. Poor doggies, they
were quite confounded, and evidently disap-
pointed when they found that, after the firing,
their eager anticipations of sport were reward-
ed by the sight of not even a single bird.

The face of society changed almost as much
as that of nature. Our three regiments marched
off, playing pathetic airs of adieu ; and familiar
faces were replaced by those of strangers.
The resident society also broke up in the

CHRISTMAS EVE. 311

Autumn, but onlv for a time. The collector
went on his way with a long train of baggage-
waggons ; the judge, the " up-country judge,"
disappeared ; the engineer officers were off to
their tanks, roads, and bridges. The forest
department spread their wings and flew to the
deep jungles, where they would see many a
wild beast before they met with Europeans
again. Education struck its tents, and the
chaplains exchanged duty with brethren from

afar, and, worst of all, G was off with

hundreds of miles before him — long days upon
the Indus and its banks, with Aden in prospect.
For M. and myself, who were stationary, roses
bloomed, and the garden blossomed, but Christ-
mas, when it stole on, appeared, at least to me,
very strange. We filled great baskets with
flowers and ferns, and sent them to the good
teaching sisters, for the adornment of their
little chapel (our own churches being abundantly
supplied), and endeavoured to make the season
as pleasant to the little ones as it could be
without their father.

On Christmas Eve we had a display of such
fireworks as were permissible in the immediate
neighbourhood of a powder-magazine and an
arsenal. There were Bengal lights, and crack-
ers, and wheels ; but the prettiest of all were

-312 MY YEAR IN AN INDIAN FORT.

the bouquets of golden spray, with green and
red flowers, which shot up from earthenware
chatty pots. It was a balmy Summer's night,
the soldiers' children came to look on, and we
had chairs taken to the meadow where the
display took place. During the evening,
highly-coloured wooden toys, representing
rajahs and ranis, in cloth of gold, wild ani-
mals, and tropical fruits, kept arriving — some of
them presents from the servants. They were
not shown to the children, who were instructed
to hang their stockings up, that Father Christ-
mas might fill them during the night ; and as
soon as they were asleep a pretty scroll, repre-
senting a rosy-red robin, singing with all his
might out of a snow-flecked holly bush, was hung
over their breakfast-table.

Christmas morning, with all its surprises and
good wishes, began very early. We elders
had to undergo the ordeal after breakfast of
standing in the verandah whilst all the servants
came up to make their salaams ; and M., with
Dick in her arms, thanked them in an elo-
quent speech. We also came in for our
share of good things. The Parsis sent tall,
circular cakes, in form very much resembling
their own towers of silence ; some one else sent a
rare present of rosy apples ; the brigadier a dish

CHRISTMAS MORNING. 313

of peaches grown in his garden ; and in the course
of the morning came a great mendiant, consist-
ing of dried figs, dates, almonds, and raisins,
arranged in quarters upon a dish large enough
to have contained a leg of mutton, taking me
back to my Paris days. For the sake of " auld
lang syne," I (with a little help from the
children) ate steadily through that mendiant.
We had a merry dinner, when the chicks were
gone to roost (what a pleasant time it is when
they are asleep), but could not enjoy it

thoroughly in G 's absence. There was a

dance on the last evening of the year, and sc
ended my first Christmas in India.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

LONDON: PRINTED BY DUNCAN MACDONALD, BLENHEIM HOUSE.

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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
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Acme Library Card Pocket

Under Pat. "Ref. Index File."
Made ty LIBRARY BUREAU

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